The lesson this morning is in
verses 14 through 23 of Mark chapter 13. I hope you'll follow with me as
I read through these verses. Mark chapter 13 beginning with
verse 14. But when ye shall see the abomination
of desolation, Spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it
ought not, let him that readeth understand. Then let them that
be in Judea flee to the mountains. And let him that's on the housetop
not go down into the house, neither enter therein to take anything
out of the house. and let him that's in the field
not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them
that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.
And pray ye that ye flight be not in the winter. For in those
days shall be affliction such as was not from the beginning
of creation which God created unto this time. Neither shall
be. And except that the Lord had
shortened those days, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's
sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And
then if any man say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, there
is, he's there, believe him not. For false Christ and false prophets
shall rise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it
were possible, even the elect. But take heed. Behold, I have
foretold you all things." Now our text begins with the seeing
of the abomination of desolation. I've been hearing about that
ever since I've been had any interest at all in religion.
I've been hearing about the abomination of desolation. It means this,
it's talking about that, on and on. They all differ in their
ideas concerning the abomination of desolation. But he said that
this abomination of desolation was prophesied by Daniel the
prophet. And he prophesied this about
600 years before our Lord appeared on this earth and before he gave
his apostles this warning. So the question is, and I need
to get this out of the way so I can talk about other things.
What is the abomination of desolation? What on earth is he talking about? Well, Daniel defines it best
in the prophecy our Lord was quoting. And you can find this
if you'd like to read and study about it in Daniel chapter nine,
beginning with verse 27. He said, for the overspreading
of abominations, he shall make it desolate. Now that's what
the abomination of desolation is, and he said it's gonna be
this way even unto the consummation, and that determined shall be
poured out upon the desolate. So the abomination of desolation
is the wrath and judgment of God upon all those who claim
to be what they're not. All those who pretend to be what
they are not. and to know that which they know
not, pretend to be servants of God, but are in reality the servants
of their father, the devil. And so he's speaking to us and
warning us of a day of great delusion, great deception, and
spiritual darkness. And without question, these verses
have an application to what was to take place in just 37 years
after his death. And that is that Titus would
come into Jerusalem and absolutely destroy it. He would destroy
the city, he would destroy the temple, the sanctuary, the priesthood,
and Israel as a nation. Be no more. But it's a mistake to think that
this is as far as Daniel's vision goes. And he told his disciples,
he said, this generation's gonna see this. He told him that. But it's still a mistake to think
that that's as far as Daniel's prophecy went. We're living in
a day in which the Bible and the gospel And our Savior and
the triune God is set before men in such a way that it is
an abomination to God, the same as it was in Israel. You read
Isaiah chapter one and see what our Lord tells them. Their pretense
of worship, their waving of the hands and their bowing and their
bodily exercise. He said, away with it, it's an
abomination. even your holy meetings. Everything
that you're doing is a pretense. Now Paul talks about this and
applies it to our day, and he said that with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. This is
2 Thessalonians chapter two, verse 10. And then in verse 11
he said, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that
they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who
believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Now here's my question to you this morning. Can you not see
the wrath of God on the righteous, on these religious reprobates
of our generation? See, they were ignorant of God's
wrath upon natural Israel. God's wrath on natural Israel
took place in a spiritual fashion. He gave them over to strong delusion. He gave them over to believe
a lie. This is the wrath of God. This is the wrath of God. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to the lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded their
eyes, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ should shine unto them. This is the wrath
of God. And Israel, in their minds, They
were about to get rid of this troublemaker, Jesus. They were
about to get rid of him. He was causing them all kinds
of problems. But other than him, everything, they thought they
were at the pinnacle. They thought they were on their
way up. They thought just as soon as the Messiah comes, he's
gonna restore natural Israel and everything's gonna be fine.
Now you look at that same thing because natural Israel is a picture
of the professing church in our world, so-called. It's a picture
of it. Is God's wrath not being poured
out on them? They're as satisfied as they
can be in their religion. They're just happy as a lot. They're gathering this morning,
the same as we've gathered here, and they're swelled up and singing
at the top of their lungs and some of them crying in deceiving
tears and calling it happiness. They had pleasure in unrighteousness. They found pleasure in it. Made
them feel good. There are churches so-called
everywhere, just like there were synagogues everywhere. Thousands upon thousands of buildings
bearing scriptural names and even the name of our Savior,
some of them. Yet there's no gospel. Where's the gospel? Look around. Listen to them.
They're on television. They're on the internet. You
can hear them. Get on there. Push the button. Give them an
ear. Where's the gospel? There's no gospel in what they're
saying. There's no love of God in what they're doing. There's
no obedience. There's no willing submission.
No change in their tenor of life. No positive effect on the people
around them. The more religious an area gets,
I don't know if you know this or not, but the more a false
religion that settles in a place and being preached in a place
and being accepted in a place, the worse men are. There's no positive effect upon
the people around them. They're antichrist. And they're
antichrist in their worship. and they're Antichrist in their
preaching, and they're Antichrist in their professions, and they're
Antichrist in their lives. They have, by God's decree, been
given over to believe a lie and be marked out for his damnation.
They have, in our Lord's own words, been made desolate. In Hebrews 10.26, he speaks of
sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth. And
what he's talking about, the truth in particular that he's
talking about, is the preaching of Christ. The sufficiency of
the redemption of Christ and the person of Christ. He's sufficient
to save the soul. You don't look beyond Christ
for salvation, you look to Christ and He's sufficient. We're complete,
the scripture said, in Him. And so He speaks, you know, having
preached that truth to you. He speaks of sinning willfully
after receiving the knowledge of the truth, that is, sinning
willfully by rejecting. the Christ that God has preached
to you. And so sinning willfully after
receiving the knowledge of the truth and that for those who
do remaineth, he said, no more sacrifice for sins. That's not to say that they couldn't
be reconciled. It's simply saying that if you
reject Christ, you reject the only salvation there is. So what he's talking about is
there's no forgiveness of sins apart from Christ and his substitutionary
death on the cross. And if you reject him, there's
nothing left but desolation. There's nothing but a certain
fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation which shall
devour the adversaries. And this is the abomination of
desolation standing where it ought not. standing as a beacon
to this world, which it's not. Anybody will tell you your life's
upside down. Everybody's going to tell you,
go to church. Have you been to church? This abomination of desolation,
this empty religion, this hollow religion is everywhere. But it's desolate, and those
who go there are desolate because there's no gospel there. There's
no Christ being preached. So it stands in a place where
it ought not. It stands as a beacon to this
world. It's standing as a tower of truth. The church is the pillar
and ground of the truth. It stands as an ambassador of
God, standing as the church of the living God. standing as the
means decreed of God to call out His elect, and standing as
a manifestation of God's workmanship. That's what God says toward His
people. What Paul said, you are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
you should walk in them. They're standing in a place where
they ought not. And God is even now judging antichrist
religion and his judgments are not even being recognized. His
wrath is being manifested in the hardening of their hearts.
Every time Moses approached Pharaoh, it says he hardened his heart
and then it says God hardened his heart. Empty, hollow, desolate religion
is an abomination to God and the world's full of it. And what
of the world? They're made more desolate because
of it. But our Lord doesn't leave us
here without assurance against such things and precious promises. He says in Mark 13 20, except
that the Lord had shortened Those days, no flesh would be saved. This religion under satanic power
is so deceiving. He goes on to say, if it were
possible, he would even deceive the very elect. It can get that
close to the truth. God has a people he chose in
Christ from the beginning and he chose them to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. And
then he calls them by his gospel to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And they'll never perish. That's
what our Lord said. You believe not because you're
not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice. And I know them, and they follow
me, and I call them by name, and they come out, and they follow
me, and they'll never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. The divine provision of grace
has been given to them, and salvation is as sure as the Christ in whom
they're chosen. That's the assurance of salvation,
is Christ. That's why I preach Christ to
you. I want you to quit trusting in yourself and start trusting
in him. That's where salvation is. There's
nothing in us but sin. Everything's in him, everything.
Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And he said the very gates of
hell shall not prevail against his church. In Daniel chapter
nine, this is where our Lord's quoting from here in Mark chapter
13. Our Lord sets before us the condemnation
of the world, but he quickly gives us eight things to assure
us of this all-sufficient redemption accomplished by Christ and our
preservation in him. And you can read these over when
you get home in Daniel chapter nine, verses 20 through 27. First of all, in verse 26, he
tells us that the coming Redeemer must be cut off Slaughtered,
not for himself. Oh, why is he slaughtered then? Why is he put to death? Why is
he cut off? He cut off for his people. Cut off for his people. This
prophecy is a prophecy of the death of Jesus Christ, our substitute
and redeemer. And while the wrath of God is
being bottled up until that awful day of judgment, he pours out
that wrath in that day upon our substitute. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. In Hebrews chapter 10, again
in verse 10, he said, by the witch will we're sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, set apart.
Set apart, one time, once for all. And then in verse 14, he said,
for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
All them that he set apart, he perfected in Christ. Did you
know that's what salvation is, is perfection? You got, how good
do you have to be to be saved? People ask me that sometimes.
You got to be as good as God. That word doesn't apply to anybody
but God. That's what our Lord said. There's
none good but God. To be saved, you have to be as good
as God. And the only way you can be as
good as God is be in Christ. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Here's the second thing. In Daniel
9 verse 27, we're told that after he was cut off out of the land
of the living, the Messiah would confirm his covenant of grace
with his people. He's going to confirm his covenant
with his people. Now his confirmation of the covenant
was the precious blood which he shed for him. Listen to this. Paul said over
in the book of Hebrews that the God of peace that hath brought
again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. If you read carefully Daniel
9.24, you'll see some of the things confirmed to us by his
blood. Let me just read through it very
quickly and then we'll Look at these things. Seventy weeks,
he said, are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy
city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most
holy. Now let me give you these things
one by one. His obedience unto death is our
covenant surety and sin atoning substitute. By those things,
he finished the transgression of his people. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying that Jesus Christ died for his elect, all their
sins, past, present, and future. Is that right? Their sins have been paid for.
Does that mean we don't sin? No, it means that your sin has
been put away. That's what it means. He satisfied the breach of the
law by giving himself in our stead. And then, fourthly, he
made an end of sins. Not that we're free of our sinful
nature, that we no longer sin, but by the substitutionary and
representative sacrifice, he took our place before the awful
justice of God and satisfied that justice for our sins. Fifthly, he made reconciliation
for iniquity. Our reconciliation in Christ
is so complete, listen to the words he uses in Colossians 1.
Listen to this. He said that he hath presented
us unto God holy. You can't even look in the mirror
and say that word with a straight face, can you? Holy, but that's
what we are in Christ. Listen to this, unblameable. Unblameable. My soul. Unreprovable. Ain't no fault
in you. In Christ. Where's the fault? Pilate said, I find no fault
in this just man. Neither does God. Ain't no fault
in him. We're unblameable and unreprovable. Now listen to this, not just
in your sight, in God's sight. He sees everything. He sees it
all. And then sixthly, by his obedience
unto death, the God-man brought in everlasting righteousness. Adam was a righteous man. He
was made upright. He was made in the image of God,
but Adam fell. His righteousness wasn't an everlasting
righteousness. Christ had to appear to him and
Eve in the garden and give them that righteousness. By His obedience, the God-man
brought in everlasting righteousness, a righteousness that'll never
go away. For all He came to represent,
for all He become their substitute, for all those divinely given
to Him by the Father, He has given us an everlasting righteousness,
no possibility of a fall, no possibility of going back into
perdition, no possibility of ever being separated from God.
He said, what's going to separate you from the love of God? And
he names off everything there is. And he said, neither life
nor death, none of these things shall ever separate you from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In fact,
the scripture said he's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone to believe in. And here's the seventh thing.
We're talking about these great and precious promises that God
has given to us in the midst of all this judgment and all
these things that's going on around. Our great Redeemer sealed the
vision. What's he talking about? Seal
the vision and the prophecy. He's talking about the Old Testament
scriptures. The Old Testament scriptures.
We're not still looking for a messiah like Israel was in their ignorance
and deception. They were looking for a messiah
to appear and a messiah was standing right in front of them. You remember
the woman at the well over in Samaria where he went? She said,
Down in Jerusalem, we worship out here in the mountains. He
said, you worship, you know not what. Well, she said, we know
Messiah's coming. He said, I that speak unto you
am he. They were looking for a Messiah,
and the Messiah was talking to them. The Messiah was walking
amongst them. To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him, shall
receive remission of sins. And everything that the Old Testament
set before us in visions, God has fulfilled in the person and
work of his son. We don't slay lambs and put them
on an altar anymore. We don't go to a priest and expect
him to go in and make atonement for us. Christ is our priest. He sealed up, he sealed the vision. Every vision, all visions. Every
prophet in the Old Testament, he sealed it up. That which God spoke in time
past to our fathers, he tells us in Hebrews 1, he hath in these
last days spoken unto us by sun. And he hath, in point of fact,
sealed up the entire canon of Holy Scripture and we're forbidden
to add anything to it or take anything away from it. Stands as it is. Everything written
concerning Christ and his people and the redemption he's accomplished.
And then lastly, having finished all these things that he came
here to do, he's ascended back on high, being anointed King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. All power in heaven and earth
given to him for the salvation of his elect. So let me conclude
our study by giving you a warning the same warning that our Lord
gave to his people. His wrath was about to be poured
out on natural Israel. Out of this religion that everybody
recognized to be the religion of God, the people of God, the
servants of God. Everybody in this world, even
Rome, who took them captive. Still, if you wanna talk about
the God of the Bible, you go to Israel, that's his people. His wrath was about to be poured
out on physical Israel, Jerusalem,
the temple, and the priesthood. So what should we do? We're out
here among them. What should we do? Listen to
what he said. Flee! Get out of there. Get away from them. Use the means
God has given you. Take advantage of it. Seek out
the congregation of the righteous and assemble with them. Go where
His people are gathered together in His name. Look at the desperation
in these words spoken. Don't go down to the house if
you're up on the roof fixing a, patching a hole in the roof.
And you know these things are coming. Don't even go down and
grab something out of the house. Just get out. That's pretty desperate,
isn't it? You're out here hoeing in the
field. You're out here hoeing in the garden. He said, don't
run back and get your coat. Just get. Go. Go. Don't go back for a change of
clothes. Get out of there. And I see Israel 37 years later
when Titus come into that city. I forget the death toll in Jerusalem. It was something staggering. I see him suffering an awful
death under the siege of Titus. It was swift, it was fatal, it
was horrible, and it was complete. And Peter, having seen such things
and applied these things in Acts chapter 2, verse 40, talking
about natural history. And this day hadn't even come
to pass yet. He said, save yourselves from
this untoward generation. Save yourselves. And as natural,
Israel's fate was sealed, and just 37 short years later, come
to an end. Even so, the false Israel and
anti-Christ religion of our day has been given over to strong
delusion. And their fate is sealed. May
the Lord give us eyes to see it. eyes to see it, and a heart
to flee it. Get out. Get away from them.
Get away from them. God's wrath is right now, and
not like it will be in that day, but even right now, His wrath
is being poured out, and you can see His wrath in their unbelief.
You can see His wrath in their anger toward the truth. This
is condemnation. Light came into the world. Men
love darkness rather than light. That's condemnation, that's wrath
being poured out. And it's all around us. We just
don't recognize it because we're looking for storms. We're looking
for earthquakes. We're looking for plagues. We're
looking for all these natural things. It's a spiritual thing. It's a spiritual thing. And that
wrath is just as real as if he opened up the earth and swallowed
them up. Oh, may God give us eyes to see. see what this prophet of God
saw in his vision. He said, Daniel, thou art greatly
beloved, and that's why I'm coming to you, and I'm gonna tell you
the truth. I'm gonna make you understand
what I'm talking about. And then our Lord applied that
same thing to his generation and to ours.