Turn with me to Luke chapter
21. We've been going through the
second half of this chapter for several weeks, looking at the
lesson, or lessons I should say, that are taught in these verses. The lesson this morning will
be taken from Luke 21, verses 33 through 36. I titled the lesson this morning,
Take Heed to Yourselves. Let's read these verses together.
Luke 21, verse 33. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves,
at any time your hearts be overcharged with certitude and drunkenness
and cares of this life, so that that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come
on all them that dwell on all the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, And pray
always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things
that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. Now the context of these verses
is the end. The end. And the end being near. One of the ends that he's talking
about throughout this chapter is the end of typical worship. In 70 A.D., the Lord put a stop
to all that Old Testament typical worship. It was the end of what
mankind, I've heard men refer to it as a national religion,
the Jewish religion. and the end of the covenant of
works. And 70 years after our Lord spoke
these words, Titus swept down with the Roman army and just
absolutely obliterated Jerusalem. He tore the temple down. There was not one stone standing
upon another. But there's another end to which
our Lord gives warning, and that is the end of the world. There's
a day coming in which things as we know them shall come to
an end. We tend, because we're human
and because we're ignorant, we tend to look around us and everything
that we plan and do is based on what we see and feel and know
in this world. But here's our first lesson,
verse 33. Heaven and earth shall pass away. It's not going to be here. Not
going to be here. This environment created for
us, which allows us to exist in this earth, shall pass away.
In 2 Peter 3.10, the apostle of Christ tells us that the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, unexpected, unprepared
for, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise. And the elements shall melt with
a fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up." Everything that we know, everything that
we call life in this world is going to be gone. It's going
to be gone. There was a day early in the
history of man when God destroyed civilization, all but a handful, by a great and all-consuming
flood. Men were warned as we are being
warned this morning, and despite their ignorance and their callousness
and their unbelief, despite their natural reasoning and intellect,
God destroyed everything except what he put in that ark." But this end that he's talking
about here is going to be greater than that. It's going to be more
devastating than that, more destructive, more permanent than the first. Heaven and earth. He flooded
heaven and earth, but he didn't destroy it. He destroyed civilization,
but now he's going to destroy heaven and earth. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
and when he comes with his holy angels, he'll come, 2 Thessalonians
1.8, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not
God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power."
What is the glory of His power that's going to be, and always
has been, in His presence. What's He talking about? The glory of His power. They're
not going to experience that. They're not going to have a part
in it. Well, the power is God's mediator
and Savior to give life and blessing and deliverance from the wrath
to come. That's what He's talking about. God has made that same
Jesus whom you crucified. That was Peter's message to him
at Pentecost. God hath made that same Jesus
Lord. He's Lord. That humble, loving,
merciful man that you despised, ignored, and set aside now sits
on the throne of glory. All power given unto him in heaven
and earth. Now let this sink in. Take this
to heart. Let this take precedence in your
reasoning. Men tell me, well, I think, well,
before you say that, incorporate this into your thinking. That's
what he's telling us to do. Let this sink in. Take this to
heart. Let this take precedence in your
reasoning and decision making. The Lord of glory is coming soon. He's coming soon. in all the
glory of His Father's house, and when He comes, heaven and
earth will pass away. Houses and lands and animals
and crops and nations and kingdoms and relationships and offices
and situations, both good and bad, hard times and good times,
heaven and earth shall pass away. Do we really believe that? Ask yourself, I've asked myself
now for days, do I really believe that there's a man in glory with
the power to destroy everything? Oh, I do. I not only believe
he can, I believe he's going to. Because he said he would. Well, why? Why would any man
allow such a thing to enter into his thinking? Why would any man
entertain such thoughts as the end of the world? Well, here's
the second lesson our Lord teaches in these verses. Verse 33. But
my words shall not pass away. When it comes down to it, believers
rest their hope in Christ upon His words. Apart from His Word, I wouldn't
even know that there was such a thing as a Christ, would you? We don't just sit around and
hope someday maybe our kids or our neighbors or our friends,
you know, they're just going to be sitting around and one
day it just dawns on them there's a Christ, there's a God in heaven,
The world's going to be destroyed. Sin's going to be judged. You're
not going to come up with that. That's in the Word of God. That's
how we know it. That's how we know it. I've never seen a heavenly vision
or any sort of image of God or even His Son. or any of those things that men
talk about, I had a vision, I died, and then I come back to life,
and all that kind of stuff. All my hope in Christ is founded
on this book. Is that right? The believer's
foundation. I know Christ is the foundation,
but you can't build on the foundation apart from this book. And you
won't know anything about that foundation apart from this book. And oh, how quick man is to judge
the Word of God by natural reasoning. There is a way. He said it twice
in the book of Proverbs. There is a way that seemeth.
What's that talking about? That's talking about men sitting
around listening to what you've got to say and then they say,
well, seems to me Oh, my soul, how quick man is
to judge the word of God by natural reason, feelings, worldly principles,
or established religion. Paul said, thou wilt say unto
me, this sovereign God that you've been talking about, this one
who elected a people, he's going to save his people for the glory
of his name. Why does he yet find fault for
who hath resisted his will? Huh? That's natural reasoning.
That's what enters into men's thinking. That's what Paul says. O man, who art thou that replies
against God? Let the potteries of the earth
strive with the potteries of the earth, but don't let a man
strive with God. Huh? If God says something, that's
it. That's it. And I listen to people. I do
listen. Sometimes it may not seem like
it. Sometimes it might seem like I'm totally ignoring you, but
I am listening. And I listen to people concerning the marriage
and concerning where they live and how to worship and whether
they need to assemble with the saints or privately worship or
what to believe about death and eternity. And mostly what I hear
about is what seems right. to them, or what feels good. Well, I just feel like I need,
huh? I tell you, I'm as guilty of
it as anybody. I'm as guilty of it as anybody.
When I read the word of God, and I see this, and oh, how I
want to just believe it with nothing else there. And then
natural reasoning and stuff begins to creep in. Isn't that awful? Lord, we believe. We believe. Help thou our unbelief. Oh, my soul. My friend, you and
I are empty of all understanding about God. The only thing we
know about God is what he's told us in this book. That's all we
know. And what he's told us in this book, he's demonstrated
in his son. What he's promised in this book,
he's brought to pass through apostles and prophets and preachers
and evangelists. All through the scriptures, these
things that he talks about, he manifests. We're empty of understanding.
Listen to this scripture. I've read this thing wrong so
many times. I hesitate to say wrong, but
I didn't get into the heart of it. In Hebrews 11, He's going
to tell us about faith. And He said, through faith we
understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. Now I know that God spoke and
it was done, He commanded and it stood fast. It was literally
come to pass because God spoke it into existence, but that's
not what this sentence here is talking about. We understand
that the worlds were framed, that the worlds were framed,
how do we understand it? By the Word of God. Huh? That's how I understand it. You
ain't gonna understand it if you go get you a book on so-called
science and read it. And you find yourself scratching
your head and they're talking about this little one-celled
animal and then a little radiation from a volcano creeped into the
salt water and a reaction came and this little thing developed
legs and crawled out on and evolved into a man. We understand that the world's
refrain by the Word of God. Well, how did man find his place
in it? Huh? All you have to do is open
a book and read it. He'll tell you. He took the dust
of the earth, he formed man, and he breathed in his nostrils
the breath of life. That's how man comes to be. I'm telling you, we're empty
of understanding about God, and then we want to go into that
emptiness to try to understand the Word of God. It's crazy,
isn't it? We have as the source of all
our knowledge the Word of God. And Christ, whose name is the
Word, and about whom the written Word bears testimony, never,
now listen to me, never asked men to believe what he said based
on the fact that he was saying it. And if ever there was a man
who could say that, it was him. But he never said that. Everything
he taught, and you check me out on this, everything that he taught
and said to them, he said, for it is written. Huh? It is written. Maybe that's what
we ought to do. What do you think? What should I preach? I should
have trained myself in psychology and used my time to counsel men
and women and teach men how to win friends and influence people
or whatever it is that men do. Hear what God the Holy Ghost
has to say on this matter. 2 Timothy 4.2. Preach the Word. Now, if you
go back a chapter, Chapter 3, you go back there and he's going
to tell you something. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. It's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good
works. Now Timothy, preach the word. Preach the word. Study to show thyself approved
unto God a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. Preach the Word. Why? Because
it's able to make thee wise unto salvation. That's 1 Corinthians. 2 Timothy 3.15. Because it's
a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews
4.20. Because it is the testimony of
God and is as a light shining in a dark place till the day
dawn and the day star rise in your heart. 2 Peter 1.20. Why preach the Word of God? Because
it contains the seed of regeneration. This is the Word which by the
Gospel is preached unto you, being born again. Why preach the Word? Because
it was written for our learning that we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Why preach the Word? Because it's given by inspiration
of God. And the foundation of faith is
Christ, and Christ can only be known through His Word. And notice
this, verse 33, He does not say that His Word shall not pass
away. He said, My Words. Plural. His words is what he preached. Huh? There's a difference, isn't
there? This is the word, singular, the word. Words is what this
thing contains. His words is what he preached.
His words are what he taught. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the
Lord and confirmed unto us by them that heard Him? Listen to
this, John 17. I'm going to preach on that,
Lord willing, here in just a little bit. But our Lord said to His
Father, They have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast
given Me are of Thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me." The words. My words are not going to pass
away, you see. And as I contemplate the world
in its final hour, God's order of the universe being relaxed,
Christ coming in all the glory of His Father's house, what a
comfort to know that His words, His promises are not going to
pass away. Not going to pass away. And what
a comfort to know that the One who taught these things, spoke
these words, is coming with you. I know this. I know that Christ
Himself He's coming. He's coming. I know that He'll
raise up those bodies of His saints laid in the earth and
call those still living in faith to meet Him in the air. Just
like during the flood, not one drop of rain fell until everybody
was in the ark and the door was closed. He'll utterly destroy this world
and make all things new. How do I know that? Because that
was in His words. We'll sit with Him as He judges
the world. And after that, unobstructed
and everlasting life with Christ. His Word is not going to pass
away. Everything else will. When such things begin to happen,
there'll be nothing to hold to. There's going to be nothing to
rest in, nothing to give us comfort except His words. Nothing else
is going to matter. What do you have right now in
your possession that you think is going to matter when the heavens
and the earth are passing away? Huh? But boy, they sure take precedence
over things, don't they? Huh? Oh, my son. Here's the third lesson. Take
heed to yourselves. When God saves, regenerates,
reconciles, and renews chosen sinners, it's an individual work. He works in you. In you. One at a time. Christ in you,
the hope of glory, not Christ in us. And while we have a union
with Christ and love one another and assemble together, we experience
their salvation one at a time. My experience, I can't pass on
to you. God's going to have to save you
and give you an experience. And I don't mean some vision.
I'm talking about knowing Him, trusting in Christ. That's a
private thing, isn't it? Take heed to yourselves. And
I hope by the grace of God to have some impact on those around
me. I hope I do. I hope through this
ministry I have some influence on those who hear me. Somebody
said, well, you're preaching to me today. I hope so. It was your faith that I was
looking at when I was preparing it. I hope I'm preaching to you. But as to the end of all things
and the hope I have concerning these things, I'm exhorted to
take heed of myself." How so? Well, he tells us here, I'm to
keep my heart from being overcharged with surfeiting. What's surfeiting? Overindulgence. Look it up, that's what it means.
Overindulgence. Excessive pleasures. Excessive
eating. Excessive drinking. Excessive
cares. Cares of this life. Boy, there's
a subject you could write several books on. The cares of this world. Our Lord said, take no thought
for your life. What you shall eat, what you
shall drink, nor for your body what you shall put on, is not
the life more than meat and the body more than raiment? He said,
look at the birds. Go out in your yard and look
at the birds. They don't build barns. They don't sow crops. And yet God clothes them, and
feeds them, and protects them, and preserves them. Does God
take care for fowl? Or did He say it all together
for our sakes? That's what He says. Your heavenly Father feedeth
them, and are you not much better than they? Now our Lord's not
teaching us here to be thoughtless. But he's teaching us not to have
anxious cares about these things. We don't pace off, what am I
going to eat tomorrow? You don't need to do that. You
don't need to do that. Of course, the food you ate yesterday
he gave to you. You thought you got it all on
your own, but you didn't. He gave it to you. And he'll
give you tomorrow's. He's not teaching us here to
be thoughtless. but to not have anxious cares
and excessive worries, not to let such things enter into spiritual
matters. And oh, how we like to season
our decision making and planning with the cares of this world.
Don't we? Oh, I do. I know I do. Listen to this. He that received
good seed among the thorns, is he that heareth the word, and
the care of this world choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. What took it away? He heard it.
He understood what you were saying. But the cares of this world just
watered it down to nothing. We all have family and friends
who have a lot of influence on us and they always give us advice
and usually It's based on the cares of this world. So what will these things mean
to us when the end of the world comes to pass? And what is the danger in these
things? Look at the last line of verse
34. And so that day come upon you
unaware. Just like that. Are we ready for these
things? Are we looking for such things?
Peter said, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. Everything around you. Seeing
then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of
persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God? O my soul, may the Lord be pleased
to lay these things to our hearts. Thank you.