We're living in troublesome times.
That's no news to you. These are perilous days, difficult
days in which to live. And when I say that, you who
know me know that I tend not to see the glasses half empty
but half full. I'm not given to pessimism. And
yet, I don't walk around with my head in the sand, and try
to pretend things are not that are. These are particularly difficult
times for men and women to live who endeavor in all things and
above all things to honor God, to do His will, to serve His
interest. And I know that your minds, like
mine, are constantly full of questions. Questions for which
there seems to be no answer, at least no answer that can quieten
us all the time from the things that we see. Moral decadence,
and I will be specific, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, moral
decadence, and the pedophilia that homosexuality spawns, and
it does. It's not just tolerated these
days, but it's actively promoted in our public schools, and by
law, promoted. I know some of you will hear
this and say, well, he's so intolerant, so bigoted. Isn't it amazing?
Intolerance these days is saying something's wrong. They say it's wrong. That's intolerant.
That's bigoted. Well, I'm not too much inclined
to be concerned about what folks think about those things. I'm
just telling you that's the way it is. The brutal slaughter of
unborn babies is as common as removing a wart from your face.
I find that I never cease to be amazed at the perverse logic
of brilliant men who hate God. The very same people who will
march on Washington to protest the thought that maybe we might
have rattlesnakes exterminated, and weep because of the horrible
abuse of laboratory rats, will tell you that a woman murdering
her baby is a matter of choice. That's brilliant, isn't it? Does that make any sense to anybody?
Any sense? Domestic violence is epidemic. I don't just mean, you know,
verbal abuse. Domestic violence, folks murdering
husband, wife, children, the nations at war. See those men facing death every
day? Some of you endure hardship,
real hardship. I'm aware that I'm probably not
aware of much of it. Those who normally have the toughest
things to go through, don't say too much about it. Folks who've
got a lot to go through, find just enough to go through it.
Folks who have hangnails, they gripe a lot. But some of you
have some difficulties. And the religion of this day
is nothing short of men worshiping themselves. I hold it in absolute
contempt. I don't respect it. I don't encourage
respect of it. I hold it in contempt. The most
abominable thing in this world is that religion where man is
exalted, man is pampered, man is honored, and man is worshipped
as though he were God, and the Lord Jesus Christ is pushed off
into a corner as some kind of an ornament. These are difficult,
difficult times. When I think about them, there
are three texts of scripture that come to my mind. I want
you to look at all three of them with me. Deuteronomy chapter
31. Moses, God's spokesman to Israel,
says things are going to happen when I'm gone. And this is one of the things
that's going to happen. Verse 17, Then my
anger shall be kindled against them. Deuteronomy 31, 17. God's anger is kindled against
our nation. and this generation. This is Christian America. God's
anger is kindled against them. And I will forsake them, and
I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and
many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that
day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not
among us? Indeed, they are. Psalm 10, verse
4. Here's the root of the trouble. The wicked, through the pride
of his countenance, will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts. You want to know how it is that
men can think as those I just spoke of? How it is that many
women can behave as the many women of this generation behave?
God is not in all their thoughts. Oh, His name is on their lips.
They go to church Sunday after Sunday and pretend to worship
Him. is not in all their thoughts. They don't care anymore about
the name, character, honor, glory, and being of God than they do
about a gnat buzzing around in the air. God is not in all their
thoughts. Galatians chapter six, verse
seven. be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever man soweth, that
shall he also reap. Sow to the great wind, and you
will reap the whirlwind. God is not mocked. God is not mocked. You may try to mock Him, but
you won't succeed. You may defy Him and say, I will
not. You will too. You will bow to
His rule, like it or no. And you will be controlled by
Him, like it or no. And you will answer to Him, like
it or no. But how do we deal with the difficulties
we see. These perilous times. How do
we react to the things going on around us every day? Where
do we find help? Help for our souls in perilous
times. I want you to turn with me to
Luke 21 and just hold your hands in your Bible as we look at these
first 24 verses of this blessed chapter. Here our Lord Jesus gives us
some needed, needed, needed lessons for troublesome times. I'm not
going to attempt to expand this passage. I just want to call
your attention to some highlights that I find of tremendous practical
importance to my own soul. First, in the first four verses,
we see that our Lord Jesus Christ, The Son of God, He with whom
we have to do, sees all and knows all. How keenly He sees all,
observes all, and knows all. We read here that He looked up
and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury,
and He saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two
minds. Now it would seem reasonable
to me that the master's mind would be on other things. Stop,
pause when you read the passage and realize what certainly had
to have been on his mind. His betrayal, his unjust arrest,
his mock trial, his crucifixion, his being made sin, his suffering,
his death, All were at hand, and he knew it. The destruction
of the temple at Jerusalem. The casting away of the Jews
in judgment. The long period of this gospel
age in which he would sit on his throne in heaven before his
glorious second advent, when the fullness of the Gentiles,
the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, and the fullness of
the Gentiles be brought in. His glorious second advent. All
these things. You read the context just right
vividly before it. And yet, he took notice of the
rich man, casting into the treasury, and of this certain poor widow,
casting in her too much. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight. All things are naked and open
to his eye. The eyes of the Lord are in every
place. Now that fact, to the religious
hypocrite, is the most terrifying thing in the world. You've heard preachers. God knows
what you're doing. God sees you in your secret.
God sees you when nobody else does. Watch out. He'll get you. He'll get you. To the religious
hypocrite, that's terrifying. to the believer its most comforting
thing in the world. Let me show you. Hold your hands
here and turn to John 21. I am comforted, oh, how I am
comforted by the fact that He who is God my Savior sees all
and knows all. You see, all you can see and
all you can know is what you see and what you know. And that's
not much. All you can see, all you can
know about Don Fortner is just the things that are related to
you. You don't see or know anything.
And the same is true with regard to others. Look at this, John
chapter 20, our Lord Jesus comes to Peter. And his purpose in
coming to Peter is not to beat him to death, but to restore
him in his grace. Peter, you remember, had cussed
three times, denied the Lord and cussed and said, no, I don't
know him. Then he told the other disciples, said, I'm going back
to where I was. This is all over. I'm done with him and he's done
with me. I'm going fishing. And the Lord Jesus said, it ain't
going to happen. I won't let you go. And he came to Peter. And he said to Napita, you said
you loved me more than all these other fellows. If they all forsook
me, you'd stay with me. Lovest thou me more than these? I ask you again, lovest thou
me more than these? Now look at verse 17. And he
saith to him the third time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou
me Now, I know that the tendency in the religious world and among
commentators in this modern age is to say that the Lord first
asked Peter, said, Peter, do you really love me? Do you really
love me? And then he said, Peter, do you
sort of like me? They've got it backwards. This third time,
he said, Peter, he stuck his finger right in his heart. He
said, do you love me? Do you love me? Now watch Peter's
answer. Peter was grieved because he
said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, I appeal to you. What I've said and what I've
done doesn't much look like it. I appeal to you. John can't possibly
know. James can't possibly know. All
they know is my denials and my cussing and my abandoning You. Lord, You know all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee. Peter understood the same thing
Paul did. When he said, It is no more I that do it, but sin
that dwelleth in me. He said, Lord, my comfort in
the midst of all this is You know the reality of Your work
in me. And You know that I love You.
You know that I do. I'll write back in our text,
look at verses 5 and 6. Here's the second lesson. Everything on this earth, everything, everything on this earth, everything
is marked for destruction. Verse 5, Luke 21, And as some
spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and
gifts, They're standing around there talking about the temple,
how beautiful it was, what a fine building it was, and it was.
How richly adorned it was, he said. Our Lord sure had a way of sticking
the focus up right in the eye, didn't he? They're standing around
adoring their lovely house of worship. And he walked up and
sticks his finger in their eyes and said, pay attention to me.
As for these things which you behold, The days will come in
the which there shall not be left one stone upon another that
shall not be thrown down." The temple at Jerusalem, just
a few years later, was utterly destroyed by the hand of God. He sent Roman armies in there
and turned that place upside down. And I don't care how many
politicians get involved, it ain't gonna get turned upside
up, right side up again. When God turns upside down, it's
turned upside down. The fact is, soon, God's gonna
turn this world upside down. And everything here, He will
destroy. All the buildings, all earthly
things, no matter how firm they appear, No matter how much they
are prized and treasured by us, we'll melt with the fervent heat
and be destroyed. Well, why do you say that, Brother
Don? Why do you keep saying things like that? Don't hold anything here with a firm grip, because you're
going to have to let it go. And value nothing here. Value
nothing here. I mean nothing, not anything,
more than you will value it when you come to draw your last breath
and go out of this world to meet God in eternity. We look not
at things which are seen, but at things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporal. The things which
are not seen are eternal. Now God teach me that. Teach
me that. I get down on the floor and play
with my grandson. Get his cars, his trucks, and
we just play, play, play. And sometimes something will
happen, he'll get real upset. You know, a wheel might come
off one of those rubber cars, one of those toy trucks. And I'm I'm a little sympathetic. I hurt for him. I say, it's all
right, bud. We'll take care of that. Papa'll fix that. And we'll
fix it. But I never see it happen but
what I think. How foolish, Don, for you to
get upset over broken wheels of your little toys. Everything here is typical. Just
typical. Just typical. The only things
that matter are things eternal. Nothing else matters. This was a striking prophecy.
You cannot imagine, I cannot imagine the mindset of those
men to whom our Lord was speaking. He's talking about the temple
of God. He's talking about that which was, it ranked right up
there with the most fabulous pieces of architecture in human
history. To the Jews, the thought of that
temple being destroyed was just incomprehensible. They looked
upon that building with an idolatrous veneration. After all, in yonder,
inside that temple, is the Holy of Holies. In that Holy of Holies
is the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat. In there is a place
where God manifests His glory. In there, that's a place where
God promised to meet with men. Every devout Jew, no matter where
he was in the world, just like Muslims today pray toward Mecca,
every devout Jew, no matter where he was in the world, daily bowed
toward Jerusalem and prayed toward God's holy temple. This was at
one time the place, the only place, where God met with men. This was at one time the place,
the only place, where God manifest His glory. This was at one time
the place, the only place, where God gave out His Word. This temple,
after all, was rich in tradition. It was built by the pattern that
God Himself revealed, the pattern of things in heaven. That is,
it was built by the picture of God's old redemptive purpose
in Jesus Christ the Lord. Everything in there intended
to typify Him. This temple was associated with
names like David and Solomon and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Nehemiah
and Ezra and Haggai and Zechariah. These were the men whose venerated
names had been long associated with this temple in its history.
And our Lord said, God's fixing to turn it upside down. God's going to destroy this thing.
Now you hear me. As it is true with regard to
all things physical, it is true with regard to all religion,
where God is abandoned. And the worship of God is abandoned. And the gospel of God is abandoned. The temple of God, you see, had
become to the Jews a piece of idolatry. It didn't represent redemption,
it was redemption. It didn't represent God, it had
become their God. Just idolatry. It had become
a brothel of Babylon. And just as Babylon must fall,
the temple must fall. And so it is with every man,
every woman, every local church, every denomination, every religious
organization that crawls in the bed of Babylon. It shall perish
with Babylon. You see, The temple of God is
not a physical thing. God is spirit. And they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The temple
of God, not this building or any other, the temple of God
is the broken and contrite heart of poor sinners trusting His
darling Son. Back in our text, our Lord Jesus
gives a warning. They asked him, saying, Master,
but when shall these things be? What shall be the sign? What
sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? Everybody
wants to know when the end's coming, don't they? Everybody. I know a man who wrote a book,
said the Lord Jesus come in 1994. I went and preached. where he was, the biggest crowd
I've preached to in my life was 1,500 people there. He had everybody
on this earth scared to death. Scared to death. I went back
next year, wasn't about half of them there. They got over
this fear. Got over fear. They're not scared anymore. But
you get folks convinced, oh, Brother Don's going to tell you
when the Lord's coming. He's going to tell you when the
end of the world is. You couldn't build a building big enough to
pack folks out if they got convinced. Everybody wants to know. But
our Lord Jesus, Did something, preachers just can't find it
in themselves to do. He totally ignored the question. He didn't answer it. He didn't answer it. Why? Because
the question is not worth asking. And God has hidden the answer.
So thoroughly hidden it, you can't find it. Nobody knows. And he asked something more,
or stated something more important. They said, when are these things
coming to pass? And the master said, you better be concerned
about this. Take heed that you be not deceived. For many shall
come in my name saying, I am Christ. And the time doth nigh,
or doth near, go ye not therefore after them. Here's the third
lesson. Many false Christs are in the
world. by whom multitudes are deceived. Take heed that you be not deceived. Now, I am not concerned. I know
there are fellows who have written lots of things about it and tell
many of me who came shortly before our Lord's appearance and many
who came shortly after our Lord's death and resurrection and ascension
back into glory who said they were the Christ. If one fellow
did this and another fellow did that, I'm not interested in those
fellows. I just have no interest. Why?
Because they're not likely to affect you or me. They're all
dead. But there are many, many, many
false prophets who come wearing the name of Christ, who point
you to a Christ who is utterly, utterly useless. Antichrist. The liberal comes along and he
talks about Jesus and Christ and talks so sweet. And they
say, you know, he was a social do-gooder. And he put into place
lots of social programs that continue to this day. And his
influence was tremendous all over the world. He was a man
of questionable moral character, you know. How could you say that? Did you never hear tell of something
called Jesus Christ Superstar? I was supposed to honor him. Because, you know, we honor him
by saying he's a good man, but, you know, good men, they may
have some real bad problems. When I tell you that anybody
who believes in the Christ of the Liberals, this man who is
a questionable character, but a social do-gooder, sort of like
most of our politicians. If you trust Him, you're going
to hell. You won't think too hard of that, will you? Anybody
who has sinned knows that. The Christ of the cultists, the
Mormons, the Adventists, they say He's a good man. He's a God,
but He is a God who really is a subordinate God. He is a God
who is really a creature of God. He is a God who really depends
on God for his existence. But he is a God, sort of. You
trust a God who is sort of a God, you're going to hell. You're
going to hell. That's just... I can't imagine anybody, anybody,
who understands this book, having any questions about that. The
Christ of the Romanist? I know And I'm getting on real
touchy ground these days because everybody thinks that old man
who just died is just a great religious leader. Great, great
religious leader. He's a great religious deceiver.
And the fellow who followed him is just as deceptive. You see,
the Christ of the Romans, they say, well, he's God. He's Jesus. He's the Son of God. They'll
sure defend the virgin birth. I mean, they'll defend the virgin
birth real good. But he's not really a savior. He just wears the name. In order
for Him to save you, you must perform penance, and you must
make certain indulgences, and you must have the sacraments,
and you must have the intercession work of your priest. That's the fellow who runs around
with a collar around his neck. And you must have the intercession
of Mary, and you must go through this and that, and you must be
part. of this great, great thing we
call the Roman Catholic Church. Trust that Christ, you're going
to hell. I'm not sorry. That's just the way it is. That's
just the way it is. But there is another far more
deceiving, and that's the Christ of Arminian free will works religion,
who tries to save you, but can't, unless you make who died to put
away sin but didn't really put away any sin. He just made it
possible for your sin to be put away if you would pretty please
trust Him. Who sends His Spirit to get you, if you pretty please
will, bow to Him and accept His proposal, then He'll take you
to heaven. That Christ is as useless as
the Christ of the liberal, the cultist, or the papist. The Christ
of God. It is He who by one sacrifice
put away sin. It is He who in the day of His
power makes sinners with Him. It is He who brings lost sheep
to Himself. It is He who gives eternal life
to whom He will. It is He who lays His sheep on
His shoulders and carries them all the way home and there's
no possibility of failure with Him. Now somebody comes and they
say, well, Brother Don, you're talking like a man or woman has
to be a theologian in order to be saved. Oh, no, no, no, no,
no, no. I'm not talking about how much
you know. Not talking about how much you know. I'm talking about
who you know. There are many antichrists going out into the
world. You better be sure you trust the Christ of God. All
right, look back at our text. Verse 9. Here's the fourth lesson. The Lord Jesus Christ will appear
when it's time. Look at verse 9. But when you
hear of wars and commotions, rumors of war, be not terrified. Don't let these things shake
you up. For these things must first come to pass. But the end
is not by and by. Brother Tim James, you don't
often find anybody who's gotten a letter from Brother Tim. He
doesn't spend a lot of time wasting ink and paper. But if you get
one from him, if you get one from him, I promise you, somewhere
along the end, toward the end of the thing, he'll say, I'll
see you when it's time. They always use that word, when
it's time. When's Christ coming? When it's time. When it's time. We must watch for Him and look
for Him on the tiptoe of faith all the time. He may appear at
any moment. Let us be found looking for Him.
And yet, throughout the Scriptures, we are told never to assume,
never to assume. And don't let anyone persuade
you to assume that His coming is immediately at hand. If you do, you'll quit serving
Him. If you do, you'll give up, start
acting pious, and you won't be of any usefulness to anybody.
It's not for you to know times and seasons. But rather, watching
for Him on the tiptoe of faith all the time, let us diligently
serve our Master, who has told us plainly that He's gone away,
and when it's time, He'll come back. Now you take the talents
he's given you and use them and serve the interest of his kingdom
and his glory with an eye to the generation that is now before
us and with an eye to the generations that yet may be influenced by
us for the glory of our God. We ought to always, we individually,
me as a preacher, we collectively as a congregation, We ought to
always have an eye to usefulness in days while we live and in
days when we are gone, so that we may truly be a pillar and
ground of truth all our days and when we are gone past truth,
just as we have received it from the generation preceding to the
generation yet to come. Now, look at verses 10, 11, and
12. Here's the fourth lesson. Until our Lord returns, trouble
is sure and will only increase. Troubles in the world and persecutions
against the gospel and against all who worship and faithfully
serve our Redeemer will only get worse. And while you live
in this world, hear me, my brother, hear me, my sister, Hear me,
you who are now thinking, well, I believe it's time that I confess
Christ and align myself with Him. I believe it's time that
I come out and openly acknowledge Christ is my Lord. You hear me. Until time is no more, from this
day forward, your troubles are just going to get worse. They're
not going to get better. You look at things and say, boy,
I'm sure glad that's over. Don't have that to go through again.
What you experienced yesterday was just to prepare you for what's
coming tomorrow. Boy, you sure don't paint a rosy
picture of things, do you? No, I paint a true picture. Look
at this, verse 10. Then said he unto them, Nation
shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and
great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and
pestilences, and fearful sights, and great signs shall there be
from heaven. But before all these, they shall
lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the
synagogues, and they'll turn you over to the church council
to be put out of church. Turn you over to law and to prisons,
being brought before kings and rulers. Now watch it. For my
name's sake. For my name's sake. This is how
the Holy Spirit puts it elsewhere. For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer
for His sake. Suffering for His sake is taking
up your cross and following Him. It is deliberately choosing the
course that is costly because of obedience to Him for His honor. It's not suffering for Jesus'
sake. It's not when you're out working
on the garage and suddenly you've got that two-pound hammer and
smash your thumb real good and you've got to go around with
a band-aid for a while. No, no, no. Suffering for His sake is
suffering because of Him. for his honor, for his glory,
enduring whatever must be endured, because you seek to do his will.
For even here unto where you call, because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in his
steps, who did no sin. Neither was guile found in his
mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered,
he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. who his own self bare our sin
in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed." I mean, Bob Potts, sir, I reckon
nothing's too much for me to suffer for a heal. Nothing. No cost too great. No sacrifice too demanding. All
right, back in our text, here's the sixth lesson, verses 12 through
15. These times of great trouble are really times of great opportunity. They're times of great opportunity.
But before these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute
you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons,
being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake, and
it shall turn to you for a testimony. Now, the next word will tell
you what it means by that. Settle it, therefore, in your
hearts, not to meditate before what you shall answer. The Lord
says, now when you have these troubles, Suffer these things
for my sake. You're going to have opportunity
to confess me before me. And don't even think about what
you would say if these things should happen. Don't plan it
out. It won't do you good. You won't
do that anyhow. Don't plan it out. He's not talking
about preaching. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about confessing him before men in the midst of
difficulty and trouble. Settle it therefore in your hearts,
not to meditate before what you shall answer. For I will give
you a mouth of wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not
be able to gainsay nor resist." These things men will do, and
they'll turn to an opportunity for you to confess Christ. And
you don't have to invent what to say. He's given us the mouth
and wisdom of God in the gospel we've experienced. And you just
tell the truth about Him. That's all. All right, look at
the next thing. Here's the seventh lesson. Though
we may be betrayed, and we will be hated, and we will
be persecuted, and we will be And sometimes even put to death
for Christ's sake. Multitudes have been and multitudes
are being put to death for His sake. Maybe not in this land
today, but around the world yet today. Still for all that, God's
saints are always perfectly safe in His omnipotent hand. Read
these words, verse 16. And you shall be betrayed both
by parrots and brethren and kinfolks and friends, and some of you
shall they cause to be put to death. And you shall be hated
of all men for my name's sake. Now listen to this next line.
This seems such a contradiction. But there shall not a hair of
your head perish. Now wait a minute. You're telling
me that I'm going to have to be put in prison. And you're
telling me mama and daddy are going to betray me. Friends are
going to betray me. Brother and sister are going
to betray me. I'm going to be hated by everybody. And somebody might
even cut my head off. And then you say, there shall
not a hair of your head perish. Oh, yes. That's what he meant
to say. That's what he meant to say. That's what he meant
to say. God will give his angel charge over you. so that you'll
not dash your foot against the ground, and not a bone of your
body will be broken. Well, but these saints of God
over time have had their bones crushed, and their bodies burned,
and ground to powder, and cast to the swains, and yet you say
not a hair will perish, not a bone be broken? Yeah, yeah. Because
the Lord Jesus, our God, will raise us up in glory, and these
bodies in perfect wholeness And the reality is, there shall no
evil happen to the just. It shall be well with the righteous. And no matter what men may do
to you, in your physical life or in your body, no man can harm
you. You can't be hurt. Not if you're in Christ. You
can't be hurt. Not really. And then in verses
19 through 24, impatience possess your souls. He said, you're going
to see Jerusalem compassionate armies. You're going to see this
land brought to distress. And you're going to see great
distress and wrath upon the people. And then he says in verse 24,
they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away
captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down
to the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Our Lord says now, in the midst
of trouble, you possess your souls in patience, believing
God, until God has saved all His elect. for he surely shall. All Israel shall be saved when
the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, and by and by I'll
come get you. Amen.