Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24. Our Lord Jesus Christ is so graciously
tender and so tenderly cares for his people that he prepares
us for the trials that we must face in this world and prepares
us by the instruction that he gives in his word. The passage
we have before us this evening is a passage in which our Lord
gave instruction to men and women who believed him, who would suffer
great, great tribulation in just a few short years. And so this
word is a word of grace to prepare them for the trials they must
suffer, and it is a word of grace to prepare us as well. Let's
read together beginning at verse 15 through verse 28. When ye therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand
in the holy place. Whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea
flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop
not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let
him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And
woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in
those days. But pray ye that your flight
be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then
shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning
of the world, to this time no, nor ever shall be. And except
those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved,
but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then
if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there,
believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,
insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say
unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold,
he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning
cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall
also the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass
is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Now these
verses are a part of our Lord's answer to the disciples' threefold
question in verse three, where they ask, tell us, when shall
these things be? That is, when are you going to
destroy this temple and Jerusalem? And what shall be the sign of
thy coming and of the end of the world? And our Lord here
answers their question, but do not make the mistake of imagining
that the things that are here written are designed and intended
only for those people who lived either in Jerusalem when the
temple was destroyed or those who shall be the very last ones
to live before the Lord Jesus comes again. That would be a
serious mistake. These things, like all of the
things written in the Scriptures, are written for our learning
and for our admonition. And so the lessons that they
teach, the spiritual instruction given, is as applicable and as
needful for us as it was for these disciples who first heard
it and those who shall hear it in years to come, if the Lord
is pleased to leave this world standing for years to come. Now
the title of my message tonight is Where the Carcass Is, Eagles
Gather. I was joking with him, and I
said, if Lindsey were preparing the psalm service tonight, he'd
walk in and ask me what the title of the message was, and I'd tell
him that, and I'd just laugh, because he'd be looking for psalms
to match the message, and he wouldn't get it. But if you're
like I am, you read this passage, and I'll almost guarantee you
the one verse that stands out is verse 28. Your curiosity rises,
and you say, what on earth does that mean? Where the carcass
is, There shall the eagles be gathered together. What on earth
is that talking about? Well, I'm going to answer that
question, but as you probably are aware, I don't intend to
spend the whole evening talking to you about eagles and carcasses.
I will get to it, I promise you. I'm going to give you the answer
to that question, and when I leave here, you're going to understand
what it means. But I give this title to the message just to
get your interest, so I can give you something to look forward
to. If you get a little sleepy, you just read verse 28 and say,
what's he going to tell me when he gets down there? And maybe
you'd stay awake and listen to the whole message. I want to
show you seven things here, lessons that are given clearly by our
Lord in this passage of scripture. And I trust that God, the Holy
Spirit, will give me the ability to feed your souls with knowledge
and understanding in the things of God that are here revealed.
First, understand this. When the Lord God destroyed Jerusalem,
when he destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, when he destroyed
the nation of Israel, he made a complete end of the old mosaic
legal system of worship. That's the significance of verses
15 through 21. Our Lord Jesus sent the armies
of Rome, the Roman armies under the command of Titus, into Jerusalem
about 40 years after these words were spoken. In the year 70 AD,
And if you should read the historical events that are described in
those days by the historians who lived there and lived shortly
thereafter, you would find that the story is simply blood-curdling. There is no description of any
kind of travesty to ever have come upon any nation in the world
like what took place in Jerusalem in 70 AD. Josephus, who was himself
an unbeliever, he was not a child of God at all, he was a Jewish
man, he lived and died a Jewish man, and yet he records the events
that took place in Jerusalem on that horrible occasion and
describes how that our Lord's words are completely fulfilled
in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. I obviously have to take their
word for it, but we're told that there were about a million people
who died who were slaughtered by Titus and his armies, not
including those who died within the walls of the city. There
were just about a million people who were slaughtered. Over 100,000
people were sold into slavery. The Jews themselves with the
infighting that took place began to slaughter themselves. So that
truly there has never been such a time of great tribulation to
come upon any people since the beginning of time. Nothing has
been recorded in the history of the world to compare to the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. But remember that Jerusalem
and the temple that stood in Jerusalem, the sacrifices, the
priesthood, all those things symbolized and represented everything
involved in Old Testament worship. Jerusalem and the temple at Jerusalem
was the heart of Old Testament religion. It was the heart of
Judaism. And when the Lord God had finished
with the Old Testament symbols, When he had finished with the
types and shadows of the law, and when Christ had come and
fulfilled all that was written in the law, in order to break
away any attachment to the old ceremonies and covenants of the
law, God destroyed the nation and everything connected with
it. So that the temple was leveled to the ground. So that Jerusalem
was utterly in ruins, and the people and the nation were utterly
in ruins and scattered to the four corners of the earth by
the judgment of God. When the Jews who crucified our
Lord Jesus, standing at His cross, cried, let His blood be on us
and on our children. When they made that terrible,
terrible indictment against themselves, they had no idea what they were
doing. But when the Lord God sent Titus and the armies of
Rome, making the abomination of desolation so that the holy
place was destroyed by the hands of wicked men, the temple was
trodden underfoot, God brought to pass the strict severity of
His justice upon those people who despised the gospel of His
grace. Now when the Lord destroyed all
things connected with the Old Testament worship, The tabernacle
and the temple is gone. The priesthood is gone. The mercy
seat is gone. The altar is gone. The daily
sacrifice is gone. The yearly sacrifice is gone. Everything connected with the
Old Testament worship is now utterly annihilated by God, utterly
destroyed by God. And the reason is God would have
us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. The declaration of
this is simple. The Lord God has made us to be
free from the law by Jesus Christ the Lord. The Apostle Paul writes
to the Romans and says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to them that believe. Now I can't stress this sufficiently,
I can't emphasize it enough, but I want you to turn to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians the second chapter. I know that during the
this period, this transition period, before the temple was
destroyed, before all things connected with the Old Testament
worship were destroyed, there was a constant tendency of men
to hang on to the temple, to hang on to the things with regard
to outward ceremonial worship. And there were even multitudes
among the Jewish believers who attempted to incorporate in the
Church of God those things involved in Old Testament carnal ceremonial
worship, even down to circumcision. And they intended to bring the
Gentiles into this manner of worship, which was never intended
by God. And so the Apostle Paul writes
in Colossians chapter 2, and he tells us plainly how that
we must never allow anyone to bring us again into the yoke
of bondage to ritualistic, ceremonial, outward religion. Look what he
says, verse 8. Beware lest any man spoil you. through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and
not after Christ. For in him, that is, in Jesus
Christ alone, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands. What on earth is he talking about?
Some folks have the idea he's talking about something connected
with baptism. It's got nothing to do with baptism.
He's talking about the new birth. Circumcision was talking about
the cutting away of the filth of the flesh. And the symbol
of circumcision was simply a symbol of purification, a symbol of
cleansing. And we have been made clean by
the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit in circumcision
made in the heart by the hand of God himself, not by the hands
of men. And so he comes to this thing
of the outward and the spiritual, that which is carnal and that
which is spiritual, and putting off the body of sins of the flesh
by the circumcision of Christ. Verse 12, buried with him in
baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith
of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead. That's
the significance of baptism. We recognize that we were crucified
with Christ. Having been crucified with Christ,
we were buried with him in the tomb and we raised with him when
he was raised up and made to sit down on the right hand of
God the Father. In baptism, we go into the watery grave, confessing
that identification with Christ. We were crucified with Him, buried
with Him, and raised up with Him. Now, to walk with Him in
the newness of life. Read on. Verse 14. Or verse 13,
rather. And you, being dead in your sins,
And in the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. And this
is what forgiveness is. It's based upon this, it arises
from this, and it is declared by this. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, and nailing it to his cross. And
this is what it means. God said, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy strength,
and thy neighbor as thyself. That's the sum of the law. And
we've broken it. We've broken the command. Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord by God in vain. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not commit adultery and so on. The command of God has been taken
which accused us and condemned us and nailed to the cross so
that it no longer condemns us and has no power over us so that
our sins have been put away for justice has been satisfied. Having
spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore, he's coming
back to the same thing you said in verse 8, let no man therefore
judge you or condemn you in meat or in drink or in respect of
a holy day or of the new moon or of Sabbath days, which are
a shadow. Oh, I wish I could get folks
to hear this. A shadow, just a shadow, just a shadow of things
to come. But the body is of Christ. Let
no man beguile you of your reward in voluntary humility and worshiping
of angels, intruding in those things which he hath not seen
vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. And not holding the head,
not holding Christ, from which all the body, by joints and bands,
had in nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth
with the increase of God. Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world. Now do you know what
that's talking about? The ordinances written against
us, and the carnal, ceremonial, ritualistic forms of the law,
the types and shadows of the law, the elements of the world,
the rudiments of this world. Why, as though living in the
world, are you subject to these ordinances? Why are you brought
back into this bondage? Touch not, taste not, handle
not. which all are to perish with
the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things
have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship, and a show
of humility, and the neglecting of the body, not in any honor
to the satisfying of the flesh. Now this is what I'm saying.
I want you to understand it. We have absolutely no connection
with the Old Testament legal dispensation or the rudiments
of the law or the elements of Old Testament carnal worship.
We are free from the law. Christ is the end of the law. That means he satisfied it. That
means he terminated it. He has nailed it to his tree.
Now, we have no earthly temple. We don't need one. This is not
a temple. This is just a meeting house.
That's all. We sometimes Talk as though the
building itself is somehow holy. We call this a sanctuary. It's
not a sanctuary. It's an auditorium. This is not
the church. This is not a temple. It's not
even a tabernacle. This is just a meeting house.
We come here to meet with God's saints around the throne of God
and worship him. But if God in his providence takes away the
meeting house, the church still stands. And we still gather around
his throne. We have no earthly temple because
Ron Christ is our temple. That's what the whole book of
Hebrews is all about. His body is the temple and we're the temple
of God in Him. The scripture tells us plainly,
we have no material altar. Those folks who eat at a material
altar, Paul was writing to the Hebrews and he says those folks
who eat at the altar, those folks who go back to the rudiments
of Judaism cannot partake of Christ. We have an altar which
we eat up by faith and that altar is Christ the Lord. Our altar
is in heaven. We don't have one down here,
we don't have one in the front of the church, at the back of
the church, we don't even have one at home. Our altar is in
glory. We worship Christ. We have no earthly mercy seat.
No place where we come and think this is a special holy place
where God meets us. Oh no, God meets us. God meets
us at the mercy seat in heaven. Jesus Christ is our mercy seat.
He's the propitiation for our sins. I wish, oh I wish we could
understand this. God Almighty is worshipped in
spirit and in truth, not with carnal things. and not in carnal
elements. We observe no Sabbath days. I
refuse to. We recognize Sunday to be the
Lord's day. The scripture teaches that. We
set aside a day to come here and worship God, but we observe
no Sabbath days. We keep no Sabbath days because
Christ is our Sabbath and rest, we rest in him. He is the rest
of which the Sabbath day spoke. We are totally, totally, totally
free from the yoke of bondage. Ye are not under the law, but
under grace. You are dead to the law by the
body of Christ. And when the Apostle Paul tells
us that the Lord Jesus, by his power as the sovereign ruler
of the universe, sent the armies of Rome under Titus' command
into Jerusalem, he says he shook those things that could be shaken,
that the things that stand should remain. That is, he shook all
the very rudiments of the earth, all the outward things of worship,
he shook them away, and now we worship God in the Spirit and
in truth. A second lesson to be learned
from this. It's far more important than it might at first appear.
It's simple, but listen well. Prudence is always proper. Did you notice as we read these
verses back here in Matthew 24 that our Lord recommends to His
disciples when the persecuting tyrant comes to Jerusalem, He
recommends to them to flee unto the mountains? He doesn't say
stay and fight, He says flee and pray. He doesn't recommend
to them that they stay there and stand their ground for principles
sake, He says flee. Now the point I'm getting at
is this. Many think that it would indicate cowardice for people
to flee in times of trouble, but it does not. Without any
question, we are to confess Christ before men, and we are to be
willing to die for Him whenever we are demanded in providence
to do so to fulfill our duty. Whatever our duty is, let us
never shirk our duty, even at the cost of life itself, where
the glory of God is at stake. We must never walk away from
known duty. But sometimes there is greater
grace demanded and required to be quiet than to act rashly. Sometimes there's much greater
grace required for a person to hold his tongue and be quiet
and wait for God to open a door of opportunity than to act rashly.
I'll give you a pretty good, a little bit humorous, but a
pretty good example of this. Brother Scott Richardson was
telling us one time, I forgot where we were, he was preaching
and he was, he'd just gotten out of surgery. He was telling
us about going to the hospital and he had, this doctor had come
in, visited with him, talked a little bit. He found out Scott
was a preacher. And after talking just a little
bit, the doctor looked at him, he said, I'm a Mohammedan. I'm in the Islam faith. And Scott
looked up at him and he said, well, when we get done with this,
we'll talk about that. And that's a pretty good bit
of wisdom. No point in having that fellow antagonized at you
who's fixing to take you into the operating room. Now that's
just a trivial point. But the point is this. We as
believers should exercise wisdom in our confession of Christ,
in our adherence to Christ, in professing Him and confessing
Him before men. Never compromise. Never back
off from revealed duty. Never walk contrary to the faith
of the gospel, but in all things exercise wisdom and don't act
rashly. Don't behave in a rash manner.
Thirdly, in verses 22, 23, and 24, I want you to get hold of
this now. God's elect are always the objects of his
special tender care. And except those days should
be shortened, there should no flesh, no Jewish flesh, those
are the folks he's talking about here, there should no flesh be
saved. But for the elect's sake, those
days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say to
you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, For there shall
arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great
signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they should
deceive the very elect." Twice our Lord mentions God's elect. Now I told you last week, this
world is but scaffold to the building of God's church and
kingdom. The reprobate, the unbelieving, the ungodly reap many benefits
living in this world of God's goodness. But God's goodness
is not designed for them. The object of God's goodness
is not them. The object of God's blessing
is not them. The objects of God's blessings,
the objects of God's goodness, the objects of God's love are
His elect. so that the world reaps benefits
from God's elect living among them. I'll give you an example.
Zohar was preserved from the judgment of God when he brought
fire down upon Sodom and Gomorrah because Lot wanted to go to Zohar. And God said, I'll go to Zohar.
I'll give you an example. God sends rain on the just and
on the unjust. You go out and plant your garden,
you sow grass in your fields, and your neighbors who have no
interest at all in the gospel, your neighbors who have no interest
at all in the glory of God, folks who live in defiance of God Almighty,
they get the same rain you get. They get the same sunshine you
get. But God sends it for you. God preserves this world for
the sake of His elect, for the benefit of His elect. Here, He
tells us that the days of tribulation, when Titus came into Jerusalem,
when Rome besieged that city, God said, those days are shortened
because I have an elect people in that city, and they shall
not be harmed by it. Times of great deception come.
So that if it were possible, the deception is so great, even
the elect of God would be deceived. But that's just not possible.
They shall not be deceived. I read one commentator today
who said times have gotten worse now and even the elect are deceived. I beg to differ. Oh no, not God's
elect. It is not possible for God's
elect to be deceived. Now you listen to me. This will
be a tremendous help to you if you can get hold of it. God's
care is for His elect. Be wise and make your calling
and election sure. I stand here before you tonight
as one of God's elect. A sinner chosen in everlasting
love for whom God Almighty has made a covenant for whom God
rules the world. Now how do you know that, Pastor?
I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust Him. And faith in Christ
makes your calling and election sure. It is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The Lord
God hears the prayers of His elect. He keeps them by His Spirit. He orders all the affairs of
the world for their good. And He allows neither men nor
devils to harm them. Oh, they can touch the body,
but they can't touch your soul. And they can only touch the body
as God has ordained it for the good of your soul. So that no
one can harm the hairs of the hairs of God's elect. It can't
be done. The Lord God even sacrifices
men and nations for the good of his elect. Turn over to Isaiah
chapter 43. Isaiah chapter 43. And listen
to what the Lord says. Isaiah 43 verse 3. He said, I have redeemed you,
I've called you, you're mine. He says in verse 3, I am the
Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt
for thy ransom. I'd sure like to hear some fellow
deny election and explain that verse. I gave Egypt for thy ransom. Ethiopia and Seba for thee. God
says, Rex Bartley, I sacrificed three nations for you. Three
nations for you. Do you see that? Since thou was
precious in my sight, and hast been honorable, and I have loved
thee, therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy
life. God cares for his own. All that
God does in this world, he does for the elexic. Fourthly, in verses 24, 25, and 26, our
Lord warns us again that there are many antichrists in this
world. There were many in the days immediately
after our Lord's resurrection and ascension who came and claimed
to be Christ. Literally, there were many who
did. There are some few nuts today who arise every now and
then, and they have throughout history who claim to be Christ.
There perhaps is reference to the Pope himself setting himself
up in the temple of God, demanding that men worship him as God.
Whether there is or not, I have no question, he's Antichrist.
There's no question concerning that. That may sound bigoted,
that may sound harsh, that's just reality. That man who demands
that men worship him as God and adhere to him as God is not in
anything less than Antichrist. That there is a far, far greater
subtlety than any of these things. And that is the presentation
of a gospel and a Christ that is an imaginary gospel, an imaginary
Christ, and an imaginary Savior. I had a letter today from a man,
I presume a young man, I don't know, I don't think I've ever
met him personally, but I've corresponded with him a couple
of times, and he asked this question. He said, how can you say that
those people are lost who do not believe in election, predestination,
and limited atonement? And I wrote him back and I said,
that's not the issue at all. That's not the issue at all. We're not talking, when we talk
about men and women believing in the salvation, we're not talking
about what they believe. That's not the issue. The issue,
Bobby, is who do you believe? That's the issue. It's not how
much do you know, it's who do you know? And I'm telling you
that any religion, listen carefully to me, I hope you'll hear me
and I hope you understand what I'm saying. Any religion, any
doctrine, any gospel, that turns men away from looking to Christ
alone as Savior, and looking to Christ alone for acceptance
with God, looking to Christ alone for redemption, salvation, and
righteousness. Any religion, any doctrine, any
gospel that thus turns men away from Christ is anti-Christ, whatever
it may be. I have no hesitancy, and I'm
not speaking rashly, I've thought about this, I've studied this
issue, I've looked it over every way I could possibly look it
over, I have no hesitancy in declaring to you that the Christ
of Arminian free will works religion is Antichrist. He is anti-Christ. He's an imaginary God, an imaginary
Savior, who's useless, utterly useless, worse than useless.
He's damning. For if you trust that which is
not Christ, you damn your soul. You perish in ignorance, and
in ignorance with zeal, in ignorance with great fervency, but still
in ignorance. A Christ who loves. I hope this
makes crystal clear sense to you. A Christ who loves me. but cannot save me or will not
save me is a useless Christ. He's useless. His love is useless.
It's meaningless. He's anti-Christ. His redemption
is meaningless. His blood is meaningless. He's
insignificant. Altogether insignificant. A Christ
who calls but does not convert. A Christ who seeks but does not
save is a useless Christ. His call, His seeking, His coming
after you is of no benefit to you. It's utterly useless. He's
anti-Christ. A Christ whose word depends in
any measure upon the will of man or the work of man. A Christ
whose work of grace and salvation depends in any measure upon what
the sinner wills or what the sinner works is a useless Christ. He's anti-Christ. His work is
meaningless. Altogether meaningless. A Christ
who wills the salvation of any who are not actually saved by
his power is a useless Christ. He's anti-Christ. And John tells
us many of them are out in the world. Look at 1 John chapter
4. Yeah, 1 John chapter 4. Beloved, believe not every spirit.
Now he's not talking about spirits and ghosts. He's talking about
preachers. If you ever have a spirit come
preach to you, you need to check into the funny farm. He's not
talking about spirits. He's talking about preachers,
the spirit of the preacher. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits. Try the spirit of that man who's
talking to you. This one who's talking to you right now. I'm
telling you what's inside me. I'm telling you what God has
revealed and talk to him. You try it and see if it's according
to God. Try the spirits, whether they
are of God. Because many false prophets are
going out into the world. He's not just beating the air.
He's not just filling up space. He's telling you there are many
false prophets going out into the world. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God, and every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is of God. That is, every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ has come according to the Old Testament Scriptures
and accomplished what the Scriptures said Christ must accomplish,
he is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, confesses not that
Jesus the Christ accomplished what God said he would, he's
not of God. He's that spirit of Antichrist.
Whereof ye have heard that it should now come, that it should
come, and even now already is it in the world. Do you see that?
That many Antichrists Some of them go by the name of Baptists,
and some of them go by the name Methodists, some by the name
Buddhists, and some by the name Pathists. It doesn't matter.
There are many Antichrists. Fifthly, our Lord's second coming
will be a sudden, climactic, glorious event. I don't know
whether you're familiar with it or not. If you're not, you
don't need to research it, find out anything about it, but there
is a school of theology. I trained in when I was in Bible
college that spends a great deal of time talking about a secret
rapture and the Lord's coming in secret. He's going to snatch
away his church and nobody's going to know it and then tribulation
is going to come. There's no such thing as a secret rapture.
There's no such thing as a secret coming of Christ. Look at verse
27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even
unto the west, So shall also the coming of the Son of Man
be. That doesn't look secret to me, does it to you? Just like
a bolt of lightning comes out of the east and strikes across
the sky and it looks like it encompasses the whole sky. So
shall the coming of Christ be. What on earth does that mean?
That simply means that when our Lord appears, His coming will
be as startling as a bolt of lightning. It will be seen and
he will be seen by all men around the world immediately at one
time. His coming will terrify the wicked
but it will be the delight of the believer. Every eye shall
see him. Every eye. Now you ask me to
explain that and I'd be hard pressed to do it. I can't begin
to. I can't begin to. But somehow when the glorified
Christ comes Everybody will see Him in all the fullness of His
glory at one time. It will terrify the wicked, but
oh, what delight it shall be to the believer. There He is.
There He is. See Him? There He is. Behold,
He's coming! And now He's here! There He is.
Oh, God, help us to be of every day and every moment of every
day on the tiptoe of faith, looking for the glorious, blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. All right, now, let's look at
verse 28. For wheresoever the carcass is,
there will also the eagles be gathered together. There are
two common interpretations given to this verse of Scripture by
orthodox, sound And frankly, I don't know which one is strictly
correct. I just don't know. But since they're both theologically
sound, both of them are consistent with the whole tenor of Scripture,
I'll give them both to you. The first is this, and this is
the sixth point. Foul, unclean birds feed upon
a dead carcass. That certainly is the meaning
of that text of Scripture. Foul, unclean birds feed upon
a dead carcass. Most of the commentators teach
us that the carcass here refers to empty, dead Judaism. And the eagles refer to the flocks
of lost religious men and women who clung to it feverishly. Though
the Lord gave warning that God would send his armies to destroy
that nation, though the Lord here speaks plainly and tells
how that there would come a time of great tribulation such as
the world had never known when the temple in Jerusalem must
be destroyed, they clung feverishly to it. This is our place of worship! This is our temple! This is our
God! And they clung to it even to
the destruction of their lives and to the destruction of their
sons and daughters. What a sober lesson. Even so it is today. Find a church
that is utterly dead. I don't mean a church where folks
don't hoop and holler. I mean a church that's dead.
utterly void of the knowledge of God, His gospel, His word,
His grace, His son, His spirit, and His glory. And I'll guarantee
you'll find a church plumbful, plumbful, full of lost religionists
who feverishly, zealously cling to their religion and cling to
their gods and cling to their ceremonies and rituals and emotionalism
and cling to it! But this is our life! This is
our hope. And they cling to it to the destruction
of their own souls and to the destruction of their sons and
daughters. They cling to their rituals,
they cling to their ceremonies, they cling to their creeds, they
cling to their emotionalism, they cling to their religion!
But their religion is utterly dead, a form of godliness, but
denying totally the power of God himself. But there's a better
translation than that, better interpretation I should say.
One that I think is better. Perhaps the carcass here refers
to our Lord Jesus Christ who was slain for our sins and the
eagles refer to sinners like you and I, unclean, foul things. who flee away to Him for salvation
and life. The first time I ever saw all
this, Brother Ed Overby was preaching with me in a conference up in
Hurricane, West Virginia. This has been, my soul, this
has been over 20 years ago. And he came to this text of Scripture,
and he said, the carcass is Christ the Lord. And I thought that
makes good sense to me. Here we are, unclean, foul creatures,
and we flee to Him. who was crucified for sinners,
feeding upon him, we have life everlasting. In that case, the
lesson is this. Christ crucified is the great
magnet by which God draws chosen sinners to himself. Now again,
whether that is the strict interpretation of this verse of Scripture, I
won't argue. But it is certainly the teaching
of Scripture. Our Lord said, I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto man. We preach Christ crucified to
the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness, but to
every sinner that's called, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom
of God. We come here together three times
every week to feed upon this blessed carcass, Jesus Christ
crucified for sinners. Now, tribulation and trouble
are sure to attend our lives. While we live in this world,
we're going to live in sorrow. While we walk through this world,
we're going to walk in trouble. We're going to have to face it
every day. It doesn't get any better. It
doesn't get any easier. We must constantly live in a
world of woe as long as we live in this world. But in the midst
of our earthly woes, there are three soft pillows upon which
to lay your aching head. And our Lord here gives them
to us. God's free electing mom. Everything God does, he does
for his elect. Everything. Everything. I'm certain that as my daughter
frequently lay across my lap and felt the blistering of her
behind with that little paddle I used to blister her behind,
I'm certain she frequently asked, why if my dad loves me is he
doing this to me? Why? And so I constantly assured her
that one day she'd understand. The reason for this is not because
I was angry, not because I'm even offended, but because I
love her. I want what's best for her. And
I sometimes ask. No, I'll just be honest. I frequently
ask. God, if this is an expression of your
love, I'd sure like to understand it. I'd sure like to understand
it. But he constantly reminds us
everything he does is for the elect's sake. Because he loves
us. He loves us. And that brings
the second great comfort, and that is divine providence. God
rules this world. Our Heavenly Father rules this
world. And nothing comes to pass but by His hand bringing it to
pass. Nothing. Nothing. And of the three, here's the
greatest of all comes. the crucified Savior. Whenever your heart's heavy and
nothing else will console your soul, when nothing else will
give comfort, when nothing else will give you peace, when nothing
else seems to give you the strength to sustain you in the midst of
the terrible trial you go through, Get alone with Christ and get
alone with Christ crucified. Get alone with Christ again at
Mount Calvary and bathe your weary soul in the sacrifice he
made for you and rejoice in his love. Rejoice in his goodness. Rejoice in his forgiveness. Rejoice
in him, that in him we have acceptance with God forever. Amen.