Go back to Matthew chapter 24. Remember, our Lord is about two days from going
to the cross to be crucified. He's going there to suffer. for a multitude of sinners given
to Him by the Father, and some of them are sitting here this
morning. That to me is an amazing thought. Now, our Lord, and this is so
sobering, so sobering, He just delivered His last message in
the temple. He had visited that place several
times, preached several times in the temple, taught in the
temple. This was the last time he would not go back there again. And just before leaving that
temple, back in chapter 23, verse 38, he said, Behold, your house Your house is left unto you desolate,
as he left. That's the last words he spoke
to them. Your house is left unto you desolate. When God incarnate walked out
of the temple that represented him, was given to Israel. No other
nation had this. No other nation. I'm sure there
were some who tried to copy, but none were given this but
to Israel. And God incarnate walked out
of that temple. And when he left, when he walked
out, their house was left desolate. Desolate. It matters not how
expensive How beautiful, how religious the people are, or
how beautiful and expensive the building is. If Christ is not
there, if Jesus Christ is not there, that place is desolate. If Jesus Christ, Son of God,
is not in me, I am desolate. The only building that is full
of the glory of God is the one He's building, and that's His
church, and that's you, you who believe the gospel. It says over
in Hosea, I think I marked this, over in Hosea chapter 9, let
me read something to you. I had this marked. In verse 12, though they bring
up their children, yet will I bereave them that there shall not be
a man left, yea, woe, now listen, woe also to them when I depart
from them. When I depart. And this is when
he did it. When he walked out of that temple
for the last time. And the amazing thing is, as
I thought about this, he walked out and said that, and for a
number of years they kept up their services. They kept going
on just like nothing happened, as if He had never been there.
And here I think, in verse 1, is probably one, maybe not one
of the most, that and when He was crucified, when they nailed
the Lord of glory to the cross. It was one of the saddest days
in Jewish history. And Jesus went out. Another translation
is this, and Jesus, going away, going away, departed from the
temple, left that temple, left that place. And they didn't even
know it. You know, the scribes and the
Pharisees, the one that he spoke of in chapter 23, they did not
realize the Lord of glory just left that place. And his disciples
came to him. They had walked out. Went up
to the Mount of Olives, and as they walked out of the temple,
they came to him to show him the building. They were impressed. You know, some of those stones
were 70 feet long, 10 feet wide, 8 feet tall, and I think it was
made out of marble. And it was white and a greenish
color. They said, I was reading some
of the old writers and even Josephus, He was a historian, Jewish historian. He was not a believer, but a
Jewish historian. It was the most impressive thing you could
have ever laid your eyes on, the building, what it was made
out of. You know, the Jews said to the Lord, because Herod had
this temple built. Remember, the first one was burnt
and destroyed in the captivity of Babylon. But they said 46
years was this building, in building. John Gill said it was 30 more
years afterwards when it was finally finished. Of course,
it was shortly after that it was destroyed. But when they
came out, they were so impressed with it. Listen over here in
Luke. In the Luke chapter, let me read you something here. This
is over here in Luke 21. It says in verse 5, And as some
spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and
gifts, That's when he said the same thing. As for these things
which ye behold, the days will come in the which there shall
not be one stone left upon another that shall not be thrown down.
This took many years to build this. It was built like a fortress. I mean, you can imagine, 70 feet
long, 10 feet wide, 8 feet tall stones. Oh, they were impressed. They
were impressed. So the disciples came to him
after hearing him give this prophecy. They point out the beauty of
this thing. They were so impressed with this grandeur, this glorious
appearance, as most people were. But our Lord was not impressed
with it. Scripture says He dwells not in buildings made with hands. He does not dwell in buildings
made Made with bricks and stone and those kinds of things. He
dwells in the building that he builds. And that's you. They're
lively stones. Lively stones. The building that
he builds is lively stones. And Jesus said unto them, see
ye not all these things? Look at them. Take notice of
them. Verily I say unto you, truly,
this is a true saying. There shall not be left here
one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Take a good look at this building,
this beautiful, strong, empty, empty building. You know, when
he said to those scribes and Pharisees, he said, you're like
whited sepulchers. On the outside, you look good.
You look beautiful. But on the inside, you're full
of dead men's bones. On the outside, that temple looked beautiful.
Oh, it looked so beautiful. But on the inside, where those
Pharisees and those scribes gathered, it was nothing but dead men's
bones. That's all it was. All it was. Not one stone. Not one stone will be left upon
another. Josephus, that Jewish historian,
which has nothing to do with the Scriptures. He had nothing
to do with the Bible. He said this, he said this, anyone
visiting that place where the temple stood, where Jerusalem
was and where the temple stood, he said after this was all destroyed,
anyone visiting that place would not know that it was ever inhabited. That's how much, that's how true
his prophecy was. Josephus said, you wouldn't know
that it was ever inhabited. In 70 AD, Titus, he was the son
of the emperor Vespasian, he besieged this city for three
years. You know, over in the Old Testament,
he said they'll dig a trench about it and besiege it. Well, that happened. That's what
Titus did. He dug a trench about that city for three years. And
then he was given the orders to go in and level that city. You go in and you just level
that place. And he did. And then he gave
his general, a man named Ternus Rufus. I'm giving you a little
history lesson here, but this was interesting to me because
it fits to the teeth of prophecy our Lord gave. You know, God
said, My word will not return to me void. When you take the
word of God and you read it, receive it as God gives it. So this man, Taurus Rufus, he
was the general of Titus's army. You know what he did? And this
was the practice of Rome. When they conquered a place,
they'd go in and dig up the foundation of the place. They went in and
they literally plowed up the foundation where that temple
stood. How did not one stone was left
on another? Not one stone was even left there
in that place. We can find the ruins of a lot
of other religions. Go to Mexico. You can find the
Mayan ruins. You can go to a lot of other
places, but you cannot. You cannot find the foundation,
not even the foundation of where this temple stood. I believe
there's a mosque built on that area right now. At least they
say there is. But they can't even find it.
You can't find the foundation of this temple. The Lord said
that this, in time, this temple will be thrown down. Not one
stone will be left upon another. And it happened. It happened. And that prophecy is found over
in Micah, chapter 3, verse 12. You can read that sometime. Over
in Micah 3, verse 12. You can find where it says that
Jerusalem shall be plowed up." And she was plowed up. But Titus
came in and took it over. And notice he said, these things,
all these things will be thrown down. And here's a lesson for
us. You know, we don't want to just
look at this as a history lesson. Everything the Word of God has
to say is applicable to us. And he says here, you see all
these things? All these things will be thrown
down. Everything we see is temporal. Everything we see on this earth
will sooner or later be thrown down. The fact that every day
has its time, has its time limit, and then it's gone, tells us
that everything is temporal. Thanksgiving is come and gone.
Now you're looking forward to Christmas. It won't be that fast,
and it'll be gone. It's just temporal. That temple
that they had, the one they built, and then it was gone. And then
the second one, which you know, listen, it had the most glory
in this. The Son of God walked into it.
In flesh. And then He left it. And then
it was gone. And I'll tell you this, someday,
I don't know how many years it'll be, But someday this will be
gone. This will be gone someday. And as he sat upon the Mount
of Olives, the disciples came to him privately over Mark 13.
There's four of them. Matthew, Mark, John and Andrew,
I believe it was. Anyway, there's four of them. Anyway, the disciples came to
him privately saying, tell us, when shall these things be? And
I think they're asking him, when is this going to happen? When
are you going to bring this destruction, destroy this temple, set up your
kingdom and run the Romans off? Because they had not even yet
quite understood Calvary. They hadn't quite understood
yet the death of Christ. Peter said, no, you're not going
to die. You're not going to die. So it tells me that they're thinking
of everything immediate. When are you going to do this?
When are you going to set up your kingdom? When is the end
of the world as they knew it? When's it going to end and your
kingdom is going to be set up? That's what they want to know.
Tell us, when are these things going to come to pass? And they're
asking these three questions. When shall these things be? And
I think it's really one question with three parts. When shall
these things be? And where are the signs when
you are going to do this? And when shall the end of the
world happen? The end of the world, they know
it. And I think it has reference to the end of the world as we
now know that it's going to end. Well, Jesus answered and said
unto them. And this one caught my attention for this morning's
service. And Jesus answered and said unto
them. Unto who? His disciples, these men who
had followed Him for three years, He said unto them, Take heed
that no man deceive you. What is it to be deceived? What is it to be deceived? It's
when someone makes you believe something that's not true. That's
what it is that simply could. When someone makes you, convinces
you to believe something that is just not so, that's being
deceived. And I don't want to be deceived. Can I be? Well, he said, take
heed that you be not deceived. And he said, if it were possible
that the very elect would be deceived, that's how close these
false prophets are going to be to the message when they come.
He said, take heed that you be not deceived. And I don't want
to deceive you. I don't want to be deceived.
And I don't want to deceive you. He says, take heed that no man
deceive you. This is a personal warning to
each and every one of us. Deceive you. We don't like to
think that we can be deceived, do we? Now, we don't like to
think that we can be deceived. We like to think, I like to think, that we are spiritually mature
enough to perceive any deception that comes our way. But deception,
the very word of it tells you it's not easily perceived. Not
easily. I heard someone say not long
ago, you know, when a false prophet comes along, That's not what
he's saying, it's usually scary, it's what he's not saying. It's
what he leaves out. That's the trouble. You know,
it's like this, if I was going to come in and deceive you, if
I was going to do that, I know what you believe. I know what
you believe. And I could stand up here and
speak what you believe. But it's what I leave out that
can be deadly. That's what can be deadly. So
he says here, You know, take heed that no man deceive you.
And he spoke this to his disciples, as I said, who were with him
for three years, the Galatians. They sat under Paul's ministry,
the Apostle Paul, they sat under his ministry, and when he left,
he said, Who hath bewitched you? Who hath deceived you? Before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth? That came from the Apostle Paul. Now, let me give you some things.
And these are just a few things, just a few things that we do
not want to be deceived about. Take heed that no man deceive
you concerning the being of God. There's a lot of people, people
believe there is a God. But they don't believe the God
that is. The God that's revealed in the pages of this book. In
the beginning, God, teach that to your children. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. You have to be, and I
believe this, you have to be an absolute fool to believe that
all this variety working together in such harmony came from a big
bang. It's just you'd have to be a
fool to believe that a big bang is
going to create all that we see. It's amazing. You know why evolution
has any kind of foothold? Because if you take evolution,
you take away judgment and you take away responsibility. You
take God, when you take God, when you take the being of God
out of the equation, you don't have judgment. You don't have anything to fear.
You just go ahead and live like, you know, as long as you can
not destroy everything around you. Don't cause yourself so
much trouble. I tell you what, God is. God
is. I don't care if you're the last
person standing. God is. And the scripture teaches
us that he is holy. Now, you would think. That God, that is. And when people
find people believe anything about the being of God, that
they want to find out what he's like, wouldn't you? Well, I know
you do. Scripture teaches that he that
is, is holy. He says in Scripture, he is of
purer eyes than to behold iniquity. He said in Psalm, you thought
I was altogether like yourselves. You thought I winked at sin like
you do. You thought I change like you do. God changes not. The God that is, is immutable.
He changes not. He's of one mind, and who can
turn him? You can turn me. You know, I
get in my mindset, and then Vicki changes it. More than you think. Most of y'all probably think
I'm stubborn, but it gets changed more than you think. He's in one mind. who can turn it, and what his
soul desires that he do it. And you know what? We are glad
that it's so. Glad that it's so. I'm glad he
does it. I'm glad there's one. I'm glad
there is one that does not change. I'm glad there is one whose purpose
is immutable. That it doesn't change. We know
who God is and we know what His purpose, something of His purpose,
and we know it's not going to change. I'm glad that He changes,
not. He is, He's perfect, He's holy
and He's just. I'm glad God is just. I rejoice
that God is a just God and the Savior, but He's a just God first.
What it says, he's a just God and a Savior, and it's in that
order. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. First time I read that, it scared
me. It scared me because I knew I was guilty. And then I learned
the gospel. I was put to death in Christ. I was put to death in His Son,
regenerated, born again, made new in Christ. I was put to death
in Him and made alive in Him. As far as the law is concerned,
I died. I died. That was real. I died in Him. And that new man is not guilty.
That new man, there is nothing against that new man and never
will be anything against him. Never! Now that's the only way
you can look at this is when he says, I will by no means clear
the guilty. Well, the guilty man was put
to death. He didn't clear him. He did not clear him. He put
him to death. That new man was created in righteousness
and true holiness and he has no sin. That's the only way it could
be. The only way. He's a just God. Now listen to these scriptures.
I have these written down. In Deuteronomy 32, 4, he is the
rock. His work is perfect. For all
his ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity,
just and right is he. I do not know why God does all
that he does. But I do know this, all that
he does is just and right. There is no, I read this to you
in the Psalm, Psalm 92, there is no unrighteousness in him.
There is none. The just Lord is Zephaniah 3,
5. And these are just a few, there
was a whole lot of these I could have written down. The just Lord
is in the midst thereof. He will not do iniquity. He will not sin. Every morning
doth he bring his judgment to light. He faileth not, but the
unjust knoweth no shame. Zechariah 9, 9. Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just. Just. Oh, I'm so glad he's just. I
am. He's just and having salvation. A just God and a Savior. He's
lowly. He's lowly. This is a description of our
God, our Redeemer. Our Redeemer is our God. He's
lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt upon an ass.
Revelations 15, 3. They sing the song of Moses,
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and
marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are
thy ways. Thou King of Saints." Oh, our
God is just. Our God's holy. He's just. But
I tell you this, He delights to show mercy. He's a just God
and a Savior. I don't want, now I don't want
just a just God and it ends there. A just God and a Savior. He delights to show mercy. Psalm 86, 5, For thou, Lord,
art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy. Oh, I'm glad He is. We'd use
it up in a day. But He's got plenty of it. Plenteous
in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee. Plenteous. Every time. Do you ever feel
like you're just wearing it out? Seriously, do you ever feel like He said He's got plenty of it
unto all them that call upon Thee every time they call. Every
time. Psalm 103 verse 8. The Lord is
merciful. Jesus the merciful. He's merciful. Jehovah is merciful. You know, we don't just remember
that man who had one talent and he hid it. with a napkin, and
his excuse was, I knew you was an austere, I knew you were a
severe, I knew you were a strict man. Well, that's one-sided,
isn't it? That's kind of a warped view.
If all you see is that. You see, if you do not know Christ,
you really get warped views of God. It's all true. Because Christ is the one who
reveals And if we do not know Him, if we do not know God in
Christ, we will have a warped view of God. He'll either be
all justice and slaying everybody, mean, or He'll be all merciful
and sentimental and won't do anything. But in Christ, He's
a just God and a Savior. Just God and a Savior. And then
be not deceived about the fall of Adam. Don't be afraid to tell your
children. We were raised up, well, many
of you were raised up. I came in when I was about 23
years of age. Many of you were raised up on
this. Don't be deceived that when Adam
fell, he took the whole human race with him. And the reason that men are so
sinful is because they are dead in trespasses and sin. When Adam fell, was he totally
ruined or crippled? The Word of God teaches total
ruin. Total ruin. The Word of God says
none good, no, not one. By nature, we don't want to hear
that. By nature, we don't believe that.
We believe that man is basically good. But according to the Word
of God, none good, no, not one. There's not a just man on earth
that does good and sins not. And if God would take away his
hand, a sovereign constraint, we would see. We would see firsthand
there's none good, no, not one, even me. We'd see it firsthand. And then be not deceived concerning
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't let any man
deceive you concerning the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and
who he is. Is he God? Is he God? The Bible says he is. Word of God says he is God. You know, it's one thing for
us to use the name of God. All religions do. All religions
use the name God. And all religions will ascribe
to Him being just and holy and merciful. They'll ascribe that to God.
But when you identify, when you identify God And Christ being one, that Jesus
Christ is God, you just put a face on God. And you just separated
most of the world from you. You could walk into the temple
over there in Israel and say God's holy. You could walk in
there and say that God is just and they would all say you're
right. You could even say that God was merciful. They'd say
you're right. Well, if you walk in there and say, Jesus Christ
is God, you'd lose your life. Go over
there in Iraq. Go over there in Pakistan. Go
over there right now and walk into that mosque and say, Jesus
Christ is God Almighty. You'd lose your life over there.
Now, here we are free to say it. But over there? You put your
life on the line. But I'm telling you this, if
you have to put your life on the line, he is God. He is God. Our Lord is telling his disciples
what's coming. This is coming on Jerusalem. This destruction is coming on
Jerusalem. And he that endures to the end shall be saved. He that holds out. He that holds
out, not deceived, and stands firm, who God is, who Jesus Christ
is, that He's God, and that He is the Redeemer. He's the Redeemer. He's the Messiah. When He lived on this earth in
the flesh, He lived not for Himself but sinners. He lived as a substitute. Don't be deceived about that.
Don't be deceived about that. When he died on the cross, he
died for sinners. He didn't die for good people.
He said there's not any. There's not any. He intercedes for sinners. He reigns on high for sinners.
He rules the earth and the skies for sinners that he died for. His redemption is particular. It is particular. And I don't
care if you're the last one standing, don't be deceived about that.
It is particular. He died for a multitude of sinners
given to him by the Father. And when he died to save, to
redeem sinners, he got the job done. He got it done. When He said
it's finished, He meant it. And I'm telling
you, it is. It's finished. And don't let
any man deceive you about that. And don't let any man deceive
you about the work of the Holy Spirit. He's the one who comes. He's the one who gives life.
He's the one who gives a new birth. He's the one who creates
a new man. and righteousness and holiness. He does that with the word of
truth through the preaching of the gospel. That's his work.
He takes the things of Christ and he shows them to us. That's
his work. Don't let any man deceive you
about those things. And he's saying this to his disciples.
And we are his disciples in this day, his followers, his learners. For many shall come in my name, and they're going to be saved.
I am Christ, and they shall deceive many." Now, this happened, especially
at this time when all this trouble started happening. These jokesters
started taking advantage of this. You know, they take advantage
of people when they're in peril, and they took advantage of this.
And they started saying, I'm Christ, and they started going
out. There were several out in the desert. I forget how many
thousands out there in the desert. One man, I forget his name, I
didn't write it down. And of course, Titus went out and killed
all of them. But this happened several times
during that particular time. But nowadays, how many people
stand in a pulpit and say, God sent me to preach. God's called
me to preach. I'm preaching in the name of
Christ. I'm an ambassador of Christ. And they stand there
and lie on God. I listened to two of them this
morning on television. I mean just as bold-faced lies could
be. He said, Be not deceived. That's why he says over in 1
John, Try the spirits, whether they be of God. Now you're going
to hear of wars and rumors of wars. Don't be troubled. Don't be troubled about this.
All these things have to come to... Don't be troubled by what
you hear. Don't let rumors frighten you. You ever let a rumor frighten
you? Well, you know, you hear a rumor,
then it sets your imagination off. And then that just gets
carried away. Don't, he said, don't be frightened
by that. Wars and rumors of wars have been since the fall. They've
been since the fall. The nation is going to rise against
nation, kingdom against kingdom. There's going to be famine, pestilence,
earthquakes. And this happened in this time,
at this particular time when Jerusalem was ready to be destroyed.
But they happen now, too. They happen now. These are the
effects of sin. They are the effects of sin. These are just the beginning
of sorrows. These are the beginning of sorrows.
But I tell you what real sorrow is. Real sorrow is this. They're not going to deliver
you up to be afflicted. That's when they turn on you.
You know, real sorrow is not when earthquakes and you have
some of these pestilence and disasters. No. is when those
who are supposed to have been proclaimed to be your brother
turns on you. And the love of many waxes cold.
That's real sorrow. They'll deliver you up to be
afflicted, and they're going to kill you, and you're going to be hated
of all nations for my namesake. Paul had to flee from city to
city over this. And many shall be offended. And
they will betray one another and shall hate one another. Trials,
now listen, trials reveal them that are His and them that are
not His. That's what trials reveal. They're going to be offended.
You see, the goats are going to be offended over hard times.
Why did God let this come my way? Well, whatever comes my
way, I can assure you one thing, I deserve it. Well, I deserve
more. I deserve more. Anything short
of hell, I deserve more. But they're going to be offended.
They're going to betray. They're going to turn you in
to the Roman government to save their own skin. And many
false prophets are going to rise, and they're going to deceive
many. They're going to be given false hopes. And I tell you what,
when troublesome time comes around, people grab at anything, don't
they? They'll grab at anything a false hope or refuge or something
to relieve. And these false prophets come
along and take advantage of people in hard times. And because iniquity
shall abound, and this is sad here, the love of many shall
wax cold. They became so suspicious of
one another. They didn't know if the one beside
of them, especially at this particular time, they didn't know if the
one beside of them was going to turn them in. or if they were
a true brother. It got that bad. But he that
shall endure to the end, he that shall not be deceived and stand
firm, stand fast, Paul says, stand fast, shall be saved. Some are going to endure to the
end. The Lord's sheep, all the Lord's sheep shall endure to
the end. The end of all trials, whatever
God sends, Our way we shall endure to the end. He'll not lose one
of his sheep. The crown is to those who finish
the race. Scripture teaches us that. And I'll close with this.
We'll pick up next week after verse 14. In this gospel of the
kingdom, this gospel of Christ crucified, this gospel concerning
God's Son, this gospel of the kingdom of God, not the kingdom
of of Rome or those Jews, but God's kingdom. It's going to
be priests in all the world. And it was, at that time, priests
in all the known world. Paul went out preaching the gospel
all over the place. He and the apostles and the church
was scattered and they went out preaching. And then he says,
shall the end come. And at that particular time, after the gospel was spread and
preached through all these Ephesus and Philippi all throughout that
known world. Then Jerusalem was destroyed.
God is good for His Word. Good for His Word. But take heed
that no man deceive you concerning who God is, who Jesus Christ
is, what He did, who He did it for. No man deceive you on the
work of the Holy Spirit, Take heed. He said, take heed. Fucking
hell.