Well, good morning, everyone.
If you would open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter 13. Before we begin,
let's bow before our Lord together. Seek his blessing. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy, reverend, is your precious name. Father, we're so thankful
that you are God above, ruling and reigning, always accomplishing
your will and purpose. Even though the world seems like
such chaos to us, you're always working all things together after
the counsel of your own will to accomplish your eternal purpose.
And Father, we're thankful. We're thankful that you've given
us some faith to believe that even though we can't always See
how it's working. We know that your hand is directing
it all. And we're so thankful. We're
thankful that you have not left any of your purpose to chance.
You've not left it up to men's will or chance of events of this
life, but that you work all things together to accomplish the salvation
of your people so that your son will be glorified. And we're
so thankful. And Father, I pray that as we
look into your word this morning, that you might be pleased to
give us eyes to see, spiritual eyes to see, and a heart that
would believe and treasure the things of our Lord Jesus Christ
that we here preach this morning. Father, I beg of you that you
would, not this morning or ever, let us just go through the motions
of religion. But Father, cause us to set our
affections on things above, not just on Sundays and Wednesdays,
but every day, cause us to set our affection on things above,
to seek the Lord Jesus Christ, to seek to know him, to believe
him, to see him. Let his name be glorified in
everything that is said and done here this morning, so that when
we leave here this morning, what is on our minds and hearts is
the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I beg of you that you'd
show us your glory. It's in Christ's name, for his
sake and his glory, we pray, amen. Now, title of our lesson
this morning, Take Heed Lest You Be Deceived. Mark chapter
13, it's filled with prophecy that, boy, really captures people's
imaginations and attention, and they imagine all these things
from when they're gonna happen and what all these things mean
from this prophecy. But that's not what this chapter
is about at all. This chapter is just as much
about the glory of Christ as Ephesians chapter two is or any
other chapter of scripture. And the specific subject, I guess
what you'd call it, of our text this morning is a warning for
us not to be deceived by outward shows of religion, by man's religion,
by events of this life. Don't be deceived by those things.
and let those things cause you to take your focus and your attention
and your eyes off of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is a warning
to take heed, not to others, but to us. Take heed to yourselves,
the Lord says. I'll spend the next 30 minutes
or so saying that. So let's read here beginning
in verse one of Mark chapter 13. 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? And Jesus answering
said unto him, seest thou these great buildings? There should
not be left one stone upon another that should not be thrown down.
Now, whatever disciple it is that said this, you can understand
why he said this about the temple, this great building. The disciples
were Jews. They were raised and steeped
in this Jewish religion, and they were still very, very impressed
with that temple. The temple was the center of
their lives, the center of everything going on in that town. And I
have no doubt it was a great architectural feat. I have no
doubt about that. It must have been beautiful.
And the Jews thought, That building was a sign of God's blessing
to them. We wouldn't have this building except that God's blessing
us. But you know the truth of the
matter? There is nothing left of that building to be impressed
with. Nothing whatsoever. Remember, this is not Solomon's
Temple. The Babylonians had come about 600 years before this,
and they tore down that temple. They looted it and took everything
out of it. This stone, this building, this
temple, was a smaller rebuild of Solomon's temple. And some
of the stones that had been part of Solomon's temple were left,
maybe the great stones at the bottom, you know, the building
that were harder to move or destroy or whatever, some of those were
left, but this was not Solomon's temple. And there was nothing
left of God's glory in this temple at all. The brazen altar was
gone, where they offered the sacrifices was gone. The golden
table of showbread, the golden candlestick, the altar of incense
that we looked at Wednesday night, they're all gone. They've been
looted by the Babylonians. And what's more, there's no Ark
of the Covenant left. Now the common people didn't
know that yet, but there was no Ark of the Covenant left,
and if the Ark of the Covenant's not there, the Shekinah glory
of God's not there. The glory of God is not shining
in that building as it once was. And I'll tell you something even
worse. The one greater than Solomon has come, and he just walked
out of the temple for the last time, and he'll never return. There's no glory left in this
building whatsoever. It has served its purpose and
now it's done. All the types and pictures and
ceremonies are finished. And what the Lord is telling
his disciples is here's the fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy to Judah. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah to Shiloh come. The scepter is departing from
Israel from Judah. They're not gonna be able to
govern themselves anymore. The Romans and everybody else
is gonna come in and rule the place and destroy the place.
The Lord's done with Israel as a picture of spiritual Israel.
The Lord could still save plenty of Jews, and I hope he does.
But the Lord's done with Israel as a picture of spiritual Israel.
And now the building's still standing, but the Lord says,
soon there's not gonna be one stone left upon another. And
about 30, 35 years after this, a Roman general named Titus came
and he sacked Jerusalem and burn it to the ground and they destroyed
the temple. They just plundered it and destroyed
it and burned it to the ground. And whatever was not destroyed,
whatever stones, maybe some of them were, maybe two or three
rows or whatever stones were still standing one upon another,
300 years later, God sent an earthquake and knocked it all
down. Just like the Lord said, there's not one stone left upon
another. Now, if all I'm trying to do
this morning is give you a history lesson, we've missed Christ in
the text, haven't we? The Lord's not just telling them
about physical things that are going to happen, although they
will. He's telling us about something much more important. He's talking
about spiritual truths here. And I know that's true because, Look at verse three, how the
Lord answers their question. 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 should be the sign when all these things should be fulfilled?
And Jesus answering them began to say, take heed, lest any man
deceive you. Now, when the disciples asked,
when will these things be? You know, when are these signs
gonna happen? Is this gonna be a sign of your
return? Is this gonna be a sign of, you
know, whatever? When they ask when, you'll notice
the Lord didn't answer at all, did he? His answer wasn't when,
his answer was who. Don't be deceived. Don't be deceived
into looking away from Christ. Don't be deceived. You beware
lest any man deceive you. Don't get your attention off
of spiritual matters here. And this is where the Lord directed
their attention to spiritual matters. Now, the Lord did tell
them here what's gonna happen to the temple, that one stone
will not be left upon another. But this is also a picture, spiritual
picture, of what's gonna happen when Christ returns. Very shortly,
I think it's just two days from where they're having this conversation,
The Lord Jesus is going to suffer and die. He's going to be buried. He's going to rise again, and
he's going to send back to glory, and he's coming again. He'll
come again in power, and when he comes, there'll not be one
stone left upon another in the whole creation. God's going to
destroy it all. He's going to burn it all up,
so don't put any confidence in it. God's gonna take this world,
he's gonna destroy it and create a new heaven and a new earth
wherein dwells righteousness. So don't be deceived into putting
your stock in things of this life. Don't think getting things
of this life is necessarily a sign of God's blessing to your soul.
God giving you blessings in this life could be a curse, not a
blessing. Don't be deceived into trusting
in the things of this life so that you look away from Christ.
Be sure, don't be deceived into trusting perishing things and
not trusting Christ. Because very soon, there won't
be one stone left upon another when Christ returns. Second,
the Lord tells them this, don't be deceived into looking away
from Christ by false religion and false prophets. In verse
six, he says, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am
Christ, and shall deceive many. Now I don't think here that Christ
is really talking about men who come and say that they're the
Messiah, that they're the Christ. There have been a few men that
did that. I think David Kresh did that,
and different men did that, and nothing ever came of them. They
disappeared quickly. I'm sure what the Lord is primarily
talking about here is a false gospel, where someone says, look,
here is Christ, here is the Savior, here is the way of salvation.
Don't be deceived. If they're not preaching the
Christ of this Bible, now they're not talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. They're not talking about the
Savior that God sent to save sinners. If who they're talking
about does not match these scriptures, don't be deceived. I mean, these
guys, they're gonna be charlatans, they're gonna be snake oil salesmen,
and they're gonna deceive many. The Lord says, you be warned
that you're not one of them. You check them out by these scriptures
to see if what they're saying is true. If they get you to follow
any way other than Christ alone, it'll lead to destruction. Every
time, if it's Christ plus If it's Christ plus a good thing,
you know, it'll lead to destruction. If they get you to follow a way
that's wider than Christ alone, you'll perish. The way of salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ is a narrow way, isn't it? It's a straight
gate and a narrow way that's plenty wide enough for every
sinner to enter. as long as they come naked, as
long as they don't come bringing any baggage of their own works
or their own morality or their own goodness or anything about
them. As long as you come naked and empty handed, the straight
and narrow way is wide open to you. But now if you try to enter,
and if you enter that way, the Lord said, you'll have eternal
life. That's where salvation is found. That's where righteousness
and forgiveness and peace with God is found. But if you try
to come another way, a wider way, where you can bring some
of your works, where you can contribute some things, either
to your salvation or you can contribute some things to keeping
your salvation. If you can contribute some things
to get God to bless you, that's a way that's wider than Christ
alone. And that way always leads to destruction. So that whatever
it is you're building your faith up in, very shortly, there'll
be not one stone left upon another. You see, salvation is not just
outward religion. Many people have shows of outward
religion, and that's not salvation. Salvation's a heart work. Look
at 2 Timothy chapter three. It's a heart work. Don't be deceived by these outward
shows of religion. Paul warns Timothy about that
in 2 Timothy three verse one. This know also that in the last
days, perilous times shall come for men to be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce
breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God. And despite all these ways that
they're so contrary to God, Paul says they have a form of godliness,
but they deny the power thereof. And from such, you turn away. Don't be deceived by this outward
show of religion now. Salvation is a heart work. It's
the power of God in the heart. Don't be deceived by these things.
Don't be deceived into thinking that salvation is in all of these
ceremonies of religion. Salvation is in Christ. It's not in the ceremonies. You
know, and these disciples that the Lord's talking to, remember
how they're Jews? How they've been steeped in this
Jewish religion? They're steeped in the types and pictures and
the ceremonies of the Jewish religion that were all pictures
of Christ. And now the Lord's telling them
that those things, they're just ceremonies. They're just things
that pointed to me. Don't you trust in the ceremony?
Don't you trust your soul to the ceremony? Trust Christ, don't
be deceived. And you know, all those types
and pictures and shadows of the Old Testament law, they're done
away with, right? We all know that. But you know,
in our day, we've replaced those ceremonies with some new ones
of our own. We've replaced salvation with
walking an aisle and shaking a preacher's hand. Now, salvation's
not in that ceremony. It's not in it. Salvation is
walking after Christ. It's walking in Christ, walking
after Christ. We've replaced salvation with
water baptism. Now, water baptism is important
It's important, it's a command of God to confess our Savior
in believer's baptism. But there are many people that
think, well, being dunked under the water and being raised up
out of it and going through this ceremony in front of a bunch
of people washes my sin away. As Brother Henry used to say
so many times, if that's why you're being baptized, all we're
gonna have is a wet sinner. Salvation's not just going through
that outward ceremony, salvation is union with Christ. So that
when he died, I died in him. When he was buried, I was buried
in him. And when he rose again, I rose again in him. And all
baptism is, is an outward confession of what God's already done in
my heart. Salvation is Christ in the heart, is union with Christ,
not the outward ceremony, even though it's very important to
the life of a believer. We've replaced observing the
Lord's table with faith in Christ. People say, well, if I eat the
bread and the wine, then, you know, I'm saved. That's somehow
gonna put my sin away. That's not so. The Lord's table
is discerning the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
observing that table in faith, looking to Christ, understanding
what his broken body and his shed blood accomplished for me.
It put my sin away. See, it's in Christ, isn't it?
Not in those ceremonies. So don't be deceived into looking
to those ceremonies instead of looking to Christ. Then don't
be deceived about man's works. Salvation is not found in man's
works of righteousness, none whatsoever. Any so-called salvation,
any system of salvation, any system of faith that's built
on man, that's built by man, that's built on man's works,
is soon gonna be crushed just as flat as the foolish man's
sandcastle, isn't it? There's gonna be no evidence
that it was ever there in the first place. Now, for the believer,
God commands us to do good works, doesn't he? To do works of love
and kindness for each other in faith in Christ, doing it for
Christ's sakes. Now you do those things, but
don't you ever be deceived into trusting in it. You do those
things, but what did the Lord say after you've done them all?
How are you supposed to look at yourself? You're an unprofitable servant.
Now, not do them, but don't trust in them. We're trusting in Christ. See, the only thing that matters
in salvation is knowing Christ. Knowing him and having faith
in him, believing him, loving him, anything else is gonna be
crushed where there's not one stone left upon another because
there's no saving value in it, none whatsoever. But now here's
a word of comfort for you. Anything we build by our works,
by our outward shows of religion, by whatever, those things are
all gonna be cast down, aren't they? One stone won't be left
upon another, but nothing. that's been built by the Lord
Jesus Christ will ever be cast down. Never. There won't even
be a stone knocked out of place. Christ's temple is his people,
isn't it? See, that temple was just a picture
of Christ. Now, the people of God, believers,
they're the temple of God. You're the temple of God because
Christ dwells in you. He dwells in your hearts. And
the Savior is never going to allow one of his people, even
one of them, to be cast down. Never. God will never leave nor
forsake his people. He left that temple, never came
back, didn't he? But he'll never leave the hearts of his people.
I'll never leave you nor forsake you. See, there's coming a day
when all of man's works, there's not gonna be one stone left upon
another. but all of God's living stones
are gonna be kept in place eternally. Let me show you that in 2 Peter
2. 2 Peter 2. Sorry, I told you wrong, 1 Peter, 1 Peter 2, excuse me, 1 Peter 2. Verse five, ye also as living
stones. You're the stones that build
up the temple of God. You're living stones, you're
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also
it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion, a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Those living stones, that's God's
people, people that he's given life, people who have life because
they have union with Christ, because they're connected to
Christ, the chief foundation, the chief cornerstone. And if
you're built on Christ, you'll never be knocked out of place.
You'll never fall out of God's kingdom because Christ is gonna
keep you. Now, if we built a refuge on
our own righteousness, soon it's all gonna be knocked down. There
won't be one stone left upon another. But if you're in Christ,
you cannot be moved. Isn't that what David said? I
shall not be moved. I shall not be moved. Now, don't
be deceived. And when we talk about the temple
and we talk about the building where God is worshiped, And to
us here at Hurricane Road, it's this building that we're sitting
in. You know, I would tell all of us, now take care of this
building. Treat it with some respect, and we ought to take
care of it. This is the place where God's worshipped. This
is the place where God's worshipped. Take care of it, but don't be
deceived into thinking that there's something special about this
building. Well, just don't do it. Don't
be married to this building now, be married to Christ. Now take
care of it. But if the gospel's never preached
in this building, you get out of it. You get out of it fast
because God's gonna, there's gonna come a day there won't
be one stone left upon another. And you know the difference,
don't you? I know you know the difference, but that's worth
pointing out. I'm so thankful for this place.
Aren't you a place where we can meet together? Walked in this
morning and the air conditioner's on, the building's clean, it
looks nice, it's a comfortable place for us to gather together
and worship. But if the gospel's not, and so for that reason,
we ought to take care of it. But if the gospel's ever not
preached here, get out, really. Well, here's the last thing.
We're talking about don't be deceived by the outward shows
of religion. Don't be deceived by false prophets
telling you these other ways to establish righteousness and
have salvation. And don't be deceived by earthly
events. Look back in our text in Mark
12, verse seven. And when you should hear of wars
and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled, for such things must
needs be, but the end shall not be yet. For nations shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there should be
earthquakes in diverse places, and there should be famines and
troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. Now, you know, when
war breaks out, particularly if it's in the Middle East, what
does everybody's mind immediately go to? This is the end. This is the war that God's gonna
use, and he's gonna bring an end, you know, to the world.
You know, there has been war every single day of my life here
on Earth. And probably for hundreds of
years before that, there's been wars somewhere. And the Lord
still hasn't returned. So wars aren't necessarily a
sign that the Lord's going to return any minute. And there's
been natural disasters, droughts and hurricanes and tidal waves
and tornadoes and these kinds of things. Disease and starvation
and crops failing and just that cause horrible misery to people
on this earth. And that's been going on as long
as we have back to recorded history. Those things I'm sure have happened
ever since Adam sinned. I'm sure of it. But those things
aren't necessarily signs that the Lord's getting ready to return.
I mean, as much misery as those things put us in, they're not
necessarily signs that the Lord's returning at any moment. Every
natural disaster, what we call a disaster, a natural disaster,
earthquakes and tornadoes and all these things, you know what
that is? It's the earth. God's creation
groaning and travailing in pain together under the burden and
weight of Mansin. That's what it is. It's not necessarily
a sign that the Lord's gonna return at any moment. And people
ought to know that from what the Lord says. He said, these
things are gonna happen, but the end shall not be yet. The Lord says, they're the beginnings
of sorrows. They're the beginnings of sorrows.
war and destruction and natural disasters and crops failing and
wildfires that just leave everything just looking like the surface
of the moon. They're just the beginning of
sorrows. I tell you the war that we ought
to be concerned with, it's a spiritual war. Satan declared it first,
and then man declared it second, declared war on God. By nature, man has been waging
war on God for 6,000 years from the second that Adam took that
fruit in open rebellion against God. Now, that's very serious. I mean, that's very serious.
And if God's not merciful to us, we know who's gonna win that
war. You know the outcome of that war. But the believer also
knows this. Man's declared war on God, but
I know how this thing's gonna end up. I know how this thing's
gonna end up. God's gonna gather all of his
people. He's gonna gather them to himself. Christ is gonna return
and his people are gonna meet him in the air. Oh, the glory
of that day. And those who refuse to believe
on Christ will be condemned for eternity. God's gonna display
his justice. That's what he's gonna do, he's
gonna display his justice. To his people that he takes to
glory, to be with him forever, he's gonna display his justice. Those people are there because
Christ satisfied justice for them. Because Christ stood condemned
for them, enabling God to be gracious to them. And those he
sends to hell, God's gonna display his justice. He'll give them
no more or no less than their sin deserves. We know how this
thing's gonna end up, don't we? Christ is the mighty conqueror. And man, all of man's inventions
to declare war on God, Satan and his power and the things
that he has declaring war on God will never, will never defeat
God. It won't even change his purpose
one iota. of the number that no man can
number, that the Lord Jesus Christ is saved by his sacrifice, not
even one of them will be stolen from Christ, will fall away from
Christ, not one of them. Now be aware, there's a war going
on. There is a war going on. There's
a war going on for men's souls. There's a war going on for the
glory of Christ. But don't you worry about the
outcome of that war. We know how this thing is going to end
up. Don't be deceived by all the events of this world and
the way that blind people talk about them. My daughter, Holly,
loves the example of three or four blind people coming up,
and they all feel an elephant. And they all describe this is
what an elephant is, and they're all wrong, because they're all
feeling different parts of it, and they can't see. They can't
see. Don't be deceived listening to
blind people talk about what God's doing and what God's gonna
do. Just look to Christ. Don't be deceived into looking
anywhere but trusting Christ and Christ alone for the salvation
of your soul. Don't look anywhere else. And when you're looking at the
events of this life, and you know, some of them are very painful
to us, aren't they? Don't be deceived into looking
at the pain, and the sorrow, and the heartache, and the things
that these things, just keep looking to Christ. I don't understand
why they are. I don't understand why these
things happen. I really don't. But I know who's
doing them, and I know he's doing them for good. than just trusting,
regardless of the circumstance. Don't be deceived. I wish I could
stress that strongly enough. Don't be deceived into ever looking
anywhere but Christ alone. All right, I hope the Lord will
bless that to you. Thank you.