We're in Mark chapter 13 and
we're going to read from verse 1 through to verse 13. So the Lord Jesus Christ is with
his disciples and this is what the scriptures say. 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.
And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone
upon another that shall not be thrown down. 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? And Jesus answering them began
to say, take heed, lest any man deceive you. For many shall come
in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And when
ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled. For such things must needs be,
but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes
in diverse places, and there shall be famines and troubles.
These are the beginnings of sorrows. But take heed to yourselves,
for they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues
you shall be beaten, and you shall be brought before rulers
and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. And the gospel
must first be preached among all nations. But when they shall
lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what
ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate. But whatsoever shall
be given you in that hour, that speak ye, for it is not ye that
speak, but the Holy Ghost. Now the brother shall betray
the brother to death, and the father the son, and children
shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put
to death. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake, but he that shall endure unto the end,
the same shall be saved. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word also. We're told in this opening verse
of our reading today that the Saviour left the temple and he
left it never to return again to it. I think there's something
significant here in this thought. The temple had been the house
of God, literally. It is where God had promised
to meet with his people. And the people of Israel went
frequently every year at preset times, designated times, in order
to worship God at the temple. and now it was abandoned by God. He would no longer honour it
with his presence. The Lord Jesus, here taking leave
of it, signified the end of its role and place and purpose for
divine worship and sacrifice. The form of religion The feasts,
the rites, the sounds and the smells and the activity, the
coming and the going, the feasts and the priests would all continue. But God would not be present
anymore. And all their activities would
be in vain. Vain religion. because the Lord
Jesus Christ had turned his back upon it. Let us not be confused into thinking
that just because a person or a group of people or a whole
church uses religious language, sings religious songs, makes
prayers and reads the Bible and prays its history and its heritage,
that that means in any way that it is a true church or indeed
that the Lord will be found within it. Scripture tells us that they
that worship me must worship me in spirit and in truth. That's what God says, spirit
and truth. These are those things that characterize
the worship of God. If God the Holy Spirit is not
present, there is no spiritual life and therefore no true worship. And if the gospel of Jesus Christ
is not preached according to the scriptures, then there is
no truth and there is no spiritual worship. A form of godliness might well
be there. The business of religion might
well go on apace. The feasts and the priests might
all continue. But God is not in it. The Lord
Jesus Christ had turned his back upon it and he had left. There was no spirit and there
was no truth within it. Furthermore, if the Lord is not
in a church, then we should not be in that
church either. And whatever justification we
might want to give for being present in a Christless church,
in a church where there is no spirit and in a church where
there is no truth, then it is merely an excuse. Someone might say, well I go
for the companionship And someone else might say, I go for the
sake of the children. Or I go to keep it open because
I'm hoping that there might be better days somewhere along the
way. Or I'm trying to win them for
the Lord. Or I can't find anywhere better
to go. Those are all excuses that a
believer with a passion for the gospel should not countenance. When the Lord left the temple,
his disciples went with him. They didn't stick around hoping
that he'd come back. We're also told that the Lord's
disciples, as they were leaving the temple, were impressed by
the stones and the architecture of the temple buildings. Now,
these disciples had seen all this before, and let's not imagine
that they are in awe or overwhelmed by a first glimpse of the splendour
of the temple buildings. I think rather what is happening
here is that these disciples had recently heard the Lord Jesus
Christ's comments about the temple's imminent destruction and its
desolation. And I think what the disciples
were referring to, or the one that spoke, I don't know which
one it was, maybe Peter, but whoever it was that was the spokesman
for them, I think that they were trying to reconcile the Lord's
words about destruction and desolation with the splendour that they
could see around about them and the energy and the activity that
all seemed to be there. and maybe they were a little
bit incredulous that such massive stonework that the masonry of
the building could actually be destroyed. It's even possible
that they were gently rebuking the Lord and hinting that something
so beautiful as the temple needn't be destroyed, that it could be
put to another use. So the disciples were curious
to hear Jesus' thoughts on the matter. And what we discover
is that the Lord was blunt and emphatic with them. He says,
"'Seest thou these great buildings? "'There shall not be left one
stone upon another "'that shall not be thrown down.'" Now it might take some time It
was another 40 years before the Romans came and destroyed Jerusalem
and literally hewed the temple to pieces. They destroyed Jerusalem
and they destroyed the temple. But Christless religion, with all its organisation, with
all its structures, with all its fine buildings, with all
its long heritage, will be thrown down. And there will not be one
stone left upon another. In the book of Revelation, we're
told about the whore, the harlot of Babylon. And that is a reference
to Christless religion. A system of religious activity
without a gospel. With a gospel that is void of
the offence of the cross. Because every religious organisation
will say that it has a gospel. But this is a gospel in Babylon
that is void of the offence of the cross. It's a faith that is founded
on man's free will. It's a hope that's built on self-righteous
accomplishments. It's a self-serving, man-honouring
structure to the glory of humanity and indeed, ultimately, to the
worship of man himself. When Christ leaves the building,
its days are numbered and Babylon will fall. I want us to take a look at three
things that the Lord taught his disciples in this passage about
their apostolic ministry. Three things that would better
equip them in their own testimony. and better equip those who preach
and teach and lead others. Now I know that the signs that
the Lord was speaking about here were signs that applied to the
period before the destruction of the temple, the disciples'
own personal ministry. But we do the passage no wrong
to apply it more broadly to the whole age of the church because
we all have a need to take heed in every age to the things that
the Lord here set before his disciples, the apostles. A false Christ and a false prophet
lies at the heart of a false gospel. And there are many candidates
for these titles throughout church history and in the present religion
of our own day. So these three things, I think,
will be useful for us to give attendance to. And the first
one is this, that the Lord says, beware of false Christs. Beware of false Christs. He said
it to the disciples, and he says it to us. Beware of false Christs. Here's a question. What does
a false Christ look like? Well, it's nothing to do with
sandals or a beard or a long coat. But it is all to do, it
is everything to do with properly distinguishing the Christ that
we worship, the Christ that we trust, the Christ that we preach,
the Christ that we follow. It is understanding who he is
and knowing when he's not present, when he is not in the teaching
or the preaching or the worship. Every Christian preacher will
say with the Apostle Paul, we preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. I don't think there's a church
that wouldn't say that in some way at some time. And yet the Lord tells us in
Mark chapter 13, the same chapter that we're in further down in
the chapter, verse 22, false Christs and false prophets shall
rise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were
possible, even the elect. Now I take that phrase from the
Lord, I take that to mean that the false Christs and the false
prophets are going to be so similar to the real Christ and the true
prophets that they're almost indistinguishable,
even to the point of, if it were possible, deceiving the very
elect of God. So again, I ask the question,
what does a false Christ look like? Now we don't have to speculate
about this. Paul tells us how to know that
we know the true Christ. The authority of the apostles
was based on their knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
true Christ. And the commission that they
were given to go and preach the gospel testified to the fact that they
knew the Christ and they knew the doctrine that they were preaching.
The whole of scripture speaks of the true Christ. And the New
Testament expressly, specifically discovers the Lord Jesus Christ
to those who search the scriptures. John chapter 1, verse 10 says
this. I'm going to read a few verses
actually, 10 to 14. Christ, he was in the world. This is John
telling us what to see, what to think about with respect to
the true Christ. He says this, he was in the world
and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came to his own, his own people,
the Jews, and his own received him not. But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. and the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. That's
how you know the true Christ. Peter, again, one of the Lord's
disciples, one of those with authority and commission to teach
and to preach and to lead men and women to a true and proper
understanding of the true Christ, he writes this. He writes, for
as we, that is the apostles, have not followed cunningly devised
fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. And the Apostle Paul met the
Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, and he declares,
For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures. You see, the testimony of these
apostles shows us the true Christ. And it can be distilled to this,
that it is the testimony that these men left us in their writings
according to the Scriptures. So the point is this, that the
true Christ, the Christ of the Bible, the Christ of Scripture, is the one who is the true Christ. And if we would know about his
person and about his work and about his accomplishments, about
his offices, we shall find that information in the scriptures
as it is preached faithfully to us. For he says, search the
scriptures, for they testify of me. And it's not just Peter, John
and Paul. It was Moses and David and Isaiah
and Job and Daniel and Jonah and Ezekiel and Malachi and all
the prophets spoke of Him. And we will find it in the testimony
of the apostles who were instructed from His very lips, authorised
by Him, commissioned to take the message He gave to them and
equipped by him. To what? To declare and to distinguish
him from impostors. 1 John chapter 1 verse 3 says,
that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. that ye
also may have fellowship with us. This is what joins us with
the apostles in our knowledge and understanding and discrimination
and distinguishing of the Lord Jesus Christ. That which we have
seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship
with us. And truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And throughout the Gospels, we
hear the Lord Jesus Christ saying to his disciples, ye shall be
my witnesses. And in the Acts of the Apostles,
we hear those very disciples saying, we are his witnesses. I asked, what does a false Christ
look like? Well a false Christ looks like
anything that is not the true Christ. Not the Christ of Scripture. Not true God and not true man. Not omnipotent and omniscient. Not sufficient and successful. Not glorious and eternal. And
especially not well pleasing to the Father. A false Christ
cannot give his people salvation. A false Christ merely offers
them suggestions as to how they might gain salvation for themselves. The true Christ gives his people
salvation, gives salvation to those for whom he died, those
for whom he has secured their eternal deliverance, those whose
salvation he obtained and glory he secured. There are many false
Christs. Christ himself testifies of this,
but there is only one true Christ. and in knowing him and in trusting
him, your sins shall be forgiven. So here is the first lesson that
the Lord taught the apostles, beware of false Christs. The second lesson that he taught
them was this, take heed to recognize false doctrine. In the days of Peter and John
and Paul, there was plenty of false doctrine around, and there
were lots of false teachers. And throughout the epistles,
and the Acts of the Apostles, but especially the epistles,
we find the apostles writing frequently in their letters to
the young churches to be careful about the false doctrine that
was permeating the teachings even as early as during the lifetimes
of the apostles themselves. And if that was true then, we
might well imagine that Satan has had lots of time to smooth
and to hone his message in the past 2,000 years. Now what I'm not going to do
is I'm not going to read examples again from the apostles' writings. But if you've got a pencil and
you want to write down the following references then you can read
them for yourselves or look back at the sermon on another occasion. 2 Peter chapter 2 is worth reading
with respect to take heed about false doctrine. The little epistle
of Jude towards the end of the New Testament, verses 3 to 16,
will serve that purpose also. 1 John chapter 2, verses 18 to
22, and all associated passages regarding Antichrist, will teach
us what to look for. We've already mentioned John's
writings about Babylon, 1 John 4, verse 3. 2 John, chapter, well, there is
only one chapter, verse 7. 1 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 1 and
2. 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verse
13 to 15. Let me just take a moment and
read those verses to you. Paul's writing to the church
at Corinth. We're looking at the little book
to the 2nd Corinthians in the Zoom services that we have at
midweek, but we haven't got as far as this yet. But here's what
he says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers,
the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according
to their works. False teachers teach a false
Christ by misrepresenting Christ and misrepresenting the work
of Christ. False teachers make salvation
to be a work of man's free will. They make righteousness to be
a cooperation between man and God. They make the precious blood
of Christ to be ineffectual to cleanse and save, except and
until man agrees to it. And therefore, implicitly, in
that teaching, the blood of Christ is largely wasted and shed in
vain. They make the work of Christ
contingent and conditional for its success on themselves. They make the work of Christ
largely to be a failure except for the few like them who in a sense save Christ from completely
wasting His work and His blood by believing in Him and therefore
giving Him some honour. false teachers by their false
doctrine make themselves to be honourable and they diminish
Christ's honour. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 29 says,
they have trodden underfoot the Son of God. They have trodden
underfoot the Son of God. They have counted the blood of
the covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing,
and done despite unto the Spirit of grace. Well might the Lord
Jesus Christ say to his disciples, and well might his disciples
say to us, take heed. Be careful. about what you hear,
about what you sit under, about what you listen to. There are
many blind leaders of the blind and you will not be saved if
you have not believed the truth. And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard. These false teachers preach a
false Christ. So how can we believe in Him
of whom we have not heard? You cannot escape if you neglect
so great salvation. And the great salvation they
neglect is the free grace gospel that declares the sovereign salvation
that is of the Lord. The Old Testament prophets knew
that salvation was of the Lord. The Old Testament prophets knew
all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. the Old Testament prophets knew
Christ and they knew the gospel of sovereign grace and the New
Testament apostles have preached that gospel to us. Let us take
heed to receive what they have given us of the true Christ and
the true gospel of Christ. For the time, says Paul, has
come when they do not endure sound doctrine, but after their
own lusts they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. So the Lord gave three admonitions,
three valuable lessons to his disciples as he sat with them
there, Peter, James, John and Andrew. He warned them about
false Christs and he warned them to take heed of false doctrine.
The third thing he taught them was this. Understand the blessing of the Lord's care
for his church. in the midst of the rising of
the false Christs, in the world of religion awash with false
doctrine, understand both the necessity for and the blessedness
of the Lord's care and protection of His church. At this point, I'm gleaning from
three remarks that the Lord made at the end of our verses today. And these three remarks are these.
In verse 10 he said, and the gospel must first be published
among all nations. The second one is in verse 11
where it says, it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. And the third one is in verse
13, where it says, he that shall endure unto the end, the same
shall be saved. Let us bring these three little
phrases together and show the blessedness and the necessity
of the Lord's care for his church. We know as the Lord's people,
we know as the Lord's people, the truth of the gospel. We know
the true Christ and we know what he has accomplished. And we know
that God, our God, has an elect people whose salvation is assured
by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. We know
that that salvation is sure and certain and that its timing is
fixed. Therefore we realise the necessity
of God's providential control over all the affairs and all
the circumstances of the world. For those people that are the
Lords to hear the Gospel and believe the Gospel, the circumstances
of the Gospel going to those people must be according to God's
will. We understand not only does God
have providential control over all things to accomplish the
salvation of his people, but that it is the satisfaction of
his sovereign will that is at stake, and that God himself and
his sovereign will and purpose is that these things should be
done. and we understand that God will
accomplish his electing purpose through the preaching of the
gospel and his people shall endure to the end and his people shall
be saved. Or as Paul puts it, and maybe
I should have said this first because this is a beautiful summary
of everything that I've just said in the past few minutes,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand. that
the purpose of God according to election might stand. The disciples were getting ready
to commence upon their apostolic ministry. The Lord Jesus Christ
would soon be slain. he would die, he would rise again,
and he would ascend into heaven. And then the apostolic ministry
would begin in force. During that time, would the well-being
of the apostles be in jeopardy? Yes, certainly. Saul of Tarsus tried to extinguish
and exterminate the young church. But he would not succeed because
the gospel must be published amongst all nations. It was God's
will to gather the elect people from amongst the nations. Would
the apostles be able to withstand the power of their foes, their
enemies? Yes they would because God the
Holy Spirit himself would defend them. He would build a wall around
them. He would advocate for them. He
would give them the very words to speak. in the presence of
their enemies. He would send forth the gospel
from their lips like a mighty trumpet blast of no uncertain
sound for the salvation of Christ's redeemed people. That's the gospel that Paul received
from Christ. That's the gospel that Paul committed
into the hands of Timothy. It is the gospel that he instructed
Timothy to commit to faithful men. and it is the gospel that
has been so committed down through the ages of the church for the
salvation of sinners and the gathering in of the elect of
God. Because God's will is being done. Would the disciples be successful? Would the gospel be successful?
Would Christ be successful? in gathering that covenant people
committed into his care. Yes, most assuredly, he would
be. Mark 13, 13 says, he that shall
endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Now whether it's
talking about the temporal enduring through all these beginnings
of sorrows that the Lord spoke of, or the eternal salvation
by a work of divine grace and power. It would be so, the Lord
would cause his people to persist. The perseverance of the saints
was assured. They would be saved. there's
no doubt about it. John chapter 10 verse 28 says,
And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. As the Lord and his disciples
sat on the Mount of Olives that night, looking towards Jerusalem
with the sun setting behind the temple. There was much in what
the Saviour said to trouble and affright his disciples, his followers. and undoubtedly there was a lot
of trouble ahead and none of them felt able or equipped for
the challenge and the suffering yet to be endured. But if Christ promised salvation
and provision and protection, that is enough to step out in
faith to stand for Christ, to stand for the Christ of Scripture,
the doctrine of grace, the gospel of effectual salvation. They
did then and we shall do it now by the grace of God and with
his help. Amen. May the Lord bless these
thoughts to us.