Turn with me back again to Matthew
chapter 24. I realized as I studied this
text that it couldn't be put into a single lesson, and yet
they're so closely tied together that I didn't want to separate
them. So I decided to bring this in
two parts. Matthew 24. We're going to be
looking at verses 23 through 28. Now, if you read carefully
through our text this morning, you'll find that each verse begins
with a word which signifies a connection with the verses preceding it.
Actually, if you'll go on up from that, you'll see the same
thing. You'll see a for, and a wherefore, and therefore, and
these type of things. Then, he says, or behold. So
my subject this morning is vitally connected with what I had to
say in our Sunday school lesson. So if you're listening to this
as a recording, you need to listen to that lesson titled, The Abomination
of Desolation. The title of this message is,
Where Eagles Gather. Let's read these verses together.
Matthew chapter 24. Then, that is, during these last
days, 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 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. It's not going to go
unnoticed. I don't know who came up with
the silly theory that there's going to be... I see those little
bumper stickers on there. If you see this car without a
driver, I've been caught up in the glory. That's the silliest
thing I ever heard of. Christ came and nobody saw it.
Nobody knew what happened. He said, as the lightning shineth
from the east all the way into the west. Now, I'm going to tell
you something. Storms come by and we see lightning
and that lightning all the time. But every now and then, God sends
a boat down and shakes the ground, shakes the house. And you look
outside and you can't even hardly look at it, it's so bright. That's
the kind of lightning He's talking about here. Every eye shall behold
him. That's what it says. Now listen
to this last verse, verse 28, Matthew 24. For wheresoever the
carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Now, there can be little doubt
as to what the first application of this verse is. It's toward
the dead, rotting carcass of Judaism, which would draw away
men and women under the pretense of preaching the true Christ. He tells us plainly that in these
latter times, Paul said some would depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. speaking
lies in hypocrisy, 1 Timothy 4, 1 and 2. Now so that you know that what
I am telling you is not just a play on words, let's just take
a few minutes and turn with me back to Genesis chapter 15. To bring anything more than speculation
to our text, we must go back and see how this carcass and
the fowl are given in Scripture and in what context. Our Lord
didn't just pull this out of the hat. He didn't just come
up with this thing to stupefy men and leave them scratching
their head. Everything He said has a relationship to what's
already been said in the Old Testament. And He spoke in language
of Scripture. Back here in Genesis chapter
15, our Lord has given to Abraham, or is about to give to him, His
covenant promises in Christ. And He lays out the sacrifice
as the Lord instructed Him. Genesis 15 verse 10. And He took unto Him all these,
and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against
another. But the birds he divided not.
They were just young pigeons and turtledoves, little tiny
things after he'd stripped the feathers and got them down to
the carcass and laid them out. They were too little to divide.
They weren't like a lamb or something. They were just little turtledoves.
And so he didn't divide these. He divided them not. Now watch
this, verse 12. And when the fowls came down
upon the carcasses, Abraham drove them away. He drove them away. The fowls, the buzzards, the
vultures came down. This was an easy meal. They were
just going to swoop down and grab them and go. And Abraham
drove them away. The sacrifice of God is not food
for vultures and it's not set forth to be eaten literally. Literally. But it's eaten by
faith as it's revealed of God to the soul. Now watch this.
We're still in Genesis 15, verse 12. When the sun was going down,
a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And lo, a whore of great darkness
fell upon him. And in this state of whore and
darkness, God gave him the sweet promises of his seed, which is
in Christ. He revealed to him these things.
Verse 17, And it came to pass that when the sun went down and
it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that
passed between these pieces. God give him some understanding
of what this sacrifice typified and what it meant. That's the
way we feed on the Gospel. It's a Gospel revelation concerning
the sacrifice. You remember over in the book
of John chapter 5, chapter 6, I believe it is, and he was talking
to them about his blood, except you drink of my blood, eat of
my flesh, you have no life in you. And a bunch of his disciples
turned around and left, said, he's mad. He's mad. He's talking
about cannibalism. He said, my words are spirit
and they are life. We see in this blessed carcass
of the substitute that the evil fowl, we see them
trying to feed upon the sacrifice that has nothing for them but
a fleshly satisfaction. And then turn with me to Jeremiah
chapter 7. Jeremiah chapter 7. gone a-whoring after other gods
and had left the true worship of God. And they built again
the high groves up in the mountains that God had strictly forbidden.
And they carried their ungodly ways even into the holy city
and even into the temple of God. And now the cup of God's wrath
was full and He is about to bring His destroyer into their midst. Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 31. And they built the high places
of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn
their sons and daughters in the fire. My soul. To burn their sons and daughters
in the fire. He said, which I commanded them
not, neither came it into my heart. I didn't instruct them
to do it. He said, I never even thought
about having them to do it. And this burning, let me tell
you something, this burning was done in two ways. One, they heated
up a bronze image of Baal, of their god. A big bronze image. And that image stood there with
its hands forth like this, and it was hollow. And they built
a raging fire in that brass image. and they took those sons and
daughters and they laid them into those hot hands of that
bronze statue and they were burned alive. And it says they beat
on the drums. The name Tophet has something
to do with this beating of drums. All of their evil priests stood
there and they beat on these big drums so the fathers and
mothers couldn't hear the cry of their children as they laid
them in the arms of that brass statue. And then another way
they did it, if he's not talking about Baal, but some other god,
another way they did it was to have a big pit. And they burned
a fire in that pit for days. And they'd get it hot and deep
with hot ashes and they'd take that big bronze statue at the
top and his arms was down like this. And they'd lay those babies
up into the arms of that statue and he'd roll down those arms
and fall out into that burning pit. Therefore, he said, Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet,
nor the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they shall bury in Tophet
till there be no place, that is, till there be no place left
to bury a man." And the carcasses of this people
shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of
the earth, and none shall fray them away. Then will our calls
to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem,
the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall be
desolate. Now you think about that. Preacher, look at their crimes.
I saw some of your faces as I described that and you just thought even
for an instant about your child being laid in the arms of a...
Look at their crimes. They deserve what they got. They
deserved it, didn't they? Sure they did. They took your
offspring and they gave them up to be burned. But that kind of thing don't
happen anymore. Or does it? Huh? Or does it? Let me tell you something.
You take your children and your loved ones down to the antichrist
filled churches of this land, and you give them over to those
men to feed them all those lies and all that stuff, it's the
same thing as taking them and laying them into the arms of
that brass statue. That's exactly right. I'm telling
you the truth. These little girls and boys,
younger than these, in this little church ain't a quarter of a mile
from us down here. As soon as that pastor took over
pastorship of that church, the first thing I seen on there,
you had some kind of a thing in there for children, and they
talked about new converts. Taking these little children
and giving them refuse, false refuse, and it will follow them
the rest of their life. The rest of their life. It's
the same thing. It's the same thing. Nobody would
take their child and lay it into the arms of a burning brass statue
unless they were deceived. And that's the problem. They
are deceived. They are deceived. He said, when they finish their
work, there will be two-fold more the child of hell than they
were. In Revelation 19, verse 20, it
said, The beast and the false prophet with them who received
his mark, and them that worshipped his image, and they were cast
alive into the lake of fire. It kind of sounds like that statue,
doesn't it? lay them in arms, roll them out
into the burning pit. Where the carcass of dead religion
lay rotting in its corruptible filth, it will always attract
those whose nature it is to feed upon such things. No man in his right mind would
give his children up to be burned. They were deceived. And God knew
the subtlety of Satan, and He forbid them to mix with them.
He forbid them, absolutely forbid them to mix
with those heathens. And I'm telling you as plainly
as I know how the same thing. Get out of Jerusalem because
God's destroyer is on the way. They're dead while they live.
And these corruptible, filthy churches out here are dead while
they live. God has given them over to a
reprobate mind. And that's what happens when
a man will not receive the love of the truth. God sends them
strong delusion. They look around and they just
simply find somebody saying something that appeals to them, something
that feeds this ungodly flesh, whatever it is. And they're satisfied
with it, and they park there on the bench, and they attend
that church, and they die in that false refuge, and they go
to hell. Lot fled Sodom by the grace of
God, even so God has plucked some of us, Amos said, as a firebrand
out of the burning. God help us to see the reality
of our judgment and of His judgment and wrath upon the religion of
this world. Make no mistake about it, this
is the first interpretation of this verse. But thank God there's
another. There's another. Turn with me
to Luke's Gospel, chapter 17. The second interpretation of
this verse is that the carcass here refers to the Lord Jesus
Christ who died for our sins. And that these eagles are the
elect of God who are drawn of God by the preaching of His death,
the preaching of His cross. In Luke 17, verse 33, it says,
Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it. And whosoever
shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night
there shall be two men in one bed. The one shall be taken,
the other one left. Two women shall be grinding together. The one shall be taken, the other
left. Two men should be in the field. The one should be taken
and the other left. And they answered and said unto
him, Where, Lord?" Now listen. He said, "...wherever the body
is. Wheresoever the body is, thither
will the eagles be gathered." It is the person of our Lord
Jesus Christ that is the Savior's sinner. They are drawn to Him. They're not drawn to a building.
They're not drawn to a doctrine. They're not drawn to a ceremony. They're not drawn by fascination. They're drawn to a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is that which the Father draws
all men to. And it doesn't matter if he's
preached in the metropolitan tabernacle over in London, England
or on the river bank. It doesn't matter if the preacher
is college trained or a high school dropout. It doesn't matter
so long as His message is Christ. That's what draws sinners. Christ
and Him crucified. In Matthew 24, in the verses
preceding this text, He tells us about false Christs and false
prophets promoting these false Christs. And then He speaks of
His coming as lightning shining from the east to the west. So
shall the coming of the Son of Man be, for where the carcass
is, there will the eagles be gathered. Where His body is,
there will the eagles be gathered. His body and His blood is the
necessary food and drink. They've got to have it. They've
got to have it. And I'll tell you something,
if you can do without it, you don't know Him. You just flat
don't know Him. If you can do without it, if
it's not your necessary meat, don't you hunger for Him? Don't
you thirst for Him? Doesn't your heart know when
He's not there? Paul said, don't you know these
things lest you be reprobate? Don't you know how the Spirit
of God is in you, creating an appetite that was never there
before? giving you life that was never
there before. Believers have been raised from
the dead. They experience things that nobody
else on this earth experiences. They experience a hunger for
Christ and a thirst for Christ. They've got to know Him. They've
got to have Him. They've got to embrace Him. He's
life to them. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ and to die is gain. Think about that. This world
can't say that. I could never say that before
I knew Him. Never say that. My heart was
out here in the world. They've got a new nature. David
said, He satisfied their mouth. I read it to you in Psalm 103.
He satisfied their mouth with good things so that their youth
is renewed like the eagles. Where is His body? Where is his
body? Well, his physical body resides
at the right hand of God. There's a man in glory. A man. Flesh of my flesh and bone of
my bones. A man sitting at the right hand
of God in glory. And when we worship him and call
upon him and sing his praise, it's toward the risen, exalted,
victorious king of glory. And then notice this, it doesn't
speak of bodies as of many, but one body. There's a lot of eagles,
but they're just one body. Just one body that attracts them.
All of God's eagles gather around His body. But it's no longer
a carcass. It was a carcass at one time,
but it's no longer a carcass. On the third day, God raised
Him from the dead. And His death is preeminent in
the Gospel. He must die. That's what he just
kept telling his disciples. I must go to Jerusalem. I must
be handed over to my enemies. I must be killed and buried and
risen the third day. I must die. It's preeminent. His death is the substitutionary
death of all God's elect and the highest motivation of love
is created as they understand what that death is all about.
Listen to this. Paul said over in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 14, he said, For the love of Christ constraineth us,
because we thus understand, that if one died for all, then all
were dead. That's where that love comes
from. That's where it comes from. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them. and rose again. And then secondly,
his death is the end of the law as a terror and a curse to man. Cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
Isn't that a curse to you? You that desire to be under the
law, do you hear the law? Do you hear what it says? Do
you see the curse of it? Cursed! Cursed! Go back and read
the giving of the law to the children of Israel. He said,
if you do this, if you do these things, He said, I'll bless you.
But if you don't do them, if you don't do them, I'll curse
you. I'll curse you. And He told them what things
would befall them. Cursed is he that continueth not in all
things written. But Christ, we died in Him. We died in Him, and His death
is the end of the law as a terror and curse to me, the sinner.
Having died in my substitute, it's done all it can do to me.
It killed me. I'm dead. I'm dead. Don't bring that law to me. I'm
dead. It's already judged me and killed
me and put me away. It has nothing whatsoever to
do with me anymore. I died in Him. Having died of
my substitute, it's done all it can do. He was delivered,
Paul said, for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And when God raised Him from
the dead, His holy justice and righteous law justified me and
pleads for me instead of against me. He justified. That's the plea in heaven. Who
is he that condemneth? It's God that justifies. Huh? That's right. The plea is that
He justified me. The penalty demanded from me
has been paid. The law is through with me. And
through the righteousness of Christ, I stand just before God. And if God be for us, if God
plead for us, who shall be against us. And then His death marks
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. You
that know who you are by nature, who know what you are by practice
and motive, by choice, you who have been convinced of your sin
by the Holy Ghost, listen to this and take comfort in this.
Colossians chapter 1, verse 21. And you, He said, that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death."
Through death. Whose death? Yours and His. Yours and His. To present you
holy and unblameable. And listen to this. Unreprovable. unreprovable in His sight. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel which you have heard and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven. The death of Christ is
preeminent in the preaching of the gospel. His death is how
God sets him forth as the propitiation for our sins and the way in which
we must call upon him and believe in him and trust him. And his
death is the end of the law as a terror to my soul because all
God's elect died in their substitute. And his death marks the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's
exalted the law and made the law honorable. And the believer
knows that he cannot honor the law any more than he does when
he rejoices and loves the righteous Christ. That's his righteousness. It's all in him. And then finally,
his death takes the sting out of mine. It takes the sting out
of mine. There's a sting in death. Most
men don't realize it. But there's an awful sting in
death, but not for the believer. Death to the believer is called
sleep. He sleepeth. That's what he said
about Lazarus. He sleepeth. They didn't understand
it, and finally he just flat out told them he's dead. But
his death was sleep. Lazarus sleepeth. He sleepeth. And death to the believer is
a release. I can go down to the funeral
home For a man who has believed and gave some evidence of that
faith, I can go down and preach his funeral, and I can preach
that death was a release to him. He is where he wants to be. He
is where he desired to be. He is with the Lord. And death
to the believer is entering into his full inheritance. Death allows
us to be where we want to be with our God and Savior. Death
allows us to be what we want to be. We'd be perfect then. We'd be perfect. Everything we
know in this world and experience in this flesh would be left behind.
All of it left behind. Perfection. Absolute perfection
before God. Now maybe we can enter into a
little bit of what he's saying here. Where the body is, that's
where the eagles gather. That's where they gather. They
have an appetite for it. They have an appetite for it.
And that's where they gather. I remember a long time ago, Brother
Mayhem went out on a fishing trip with his son-in-law, Bob
Coffey, and his wife and his two grandkids. And I don't remember,
they were somewhere out west, maybe out in Yellowstone, but
they were out there and they were fishing. And Henry was sitting
up under the tree just watching the kids and watching everything
that was going on, the little kids down there fishing. One
of them come up and said, Grandpa, get me a worm. And Henry reached
down in that little can, pulled out one of them little slimy
worms, and he raised it up and gave it to him. About the time
he did, there was a big old bald eagle sitting in the tree above
him. He didn't even know it was there. And he said, man, that
thing comes swooping down. And flying, and he said, I stand
there holding that worm. And he said, let me tell you
something. There's a lot of difference between a worm and an eagle.
God's people are eagles. They're eagles. They're not worms
anymore. They was worms. They was wiggling
maggots. That's what that word means.
But now they're eagles. God give them wings to mount
up like eagles.