are filled with stories of misery,
woe, and sorrow. Everywhere sickness, disease,
wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilence, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes,
and the like ravage the earth everywhere. Add to these things
the robberies, the rapes, the murders, that are reported every
day, even in a small town like ours, reported about every day.
And you have to ask yourself a question. You just have to
ask a question. I've had folks ask me this question
many, many times, and it's an honest, fair question. If God
Almighty truly is good, if he truly is and truly is good, If God Almighty, a good, gracious
God, absolutely rules the universe in total sovereignty, if he is
really in absolute control of all things at all times everywhere,
how can these things be? That's a fair question. Would
God allow such things as this? If God's in total control of
all things, how can we explain fathers raping their own daughters? Mothers murdering their own children? Abortions, horrible as it is,
but then after a woman has given birth to a child, take it out
and murder it. How can we explain sons slaughtering their parents?
Grandparents are going to school as if nothing happened. How can
we explain children taking arms and slaughtering their classmates
and teachers like they were having a Pepsi-Cola? You listen carefully
to this preacher. Listen carefully. There's absolutely
no question that God is. There's absolutely no question
that God is good. Good and right in all that he
does. There's absolutely no question
that God Almighty totally rules the universe everywhere, at all
times, and all things in it. No question concerning those
things. The scriptures are explicitly clear. Our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever He has
pleased. In the earth, in the sea, and
in all deep places, He does exactly as He will. Not only does He
allow these things, He brings them to pass. That's right. That's right. These things are
not accidents. These things are not something
that sneaks up on God's backside and they're out of control. Oh,
no, no, no. These are the works of God's hands. This is what
He says. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. This world is a world of sorrow
and of woe because it is a world full of sin and full of rebellion
against God. A holy good God must and shall
punish sin. I hope you're listening to me.
I hope you're listening. The sorrows of this world, the
sorrows of life in this world, the woes and the troubles that
we see around us and experience ourselves are but forewarnings
and forerunners of God's wrath and judgment against all ungodliness
and all sin. You see the I know people get
hold of this and they'll make all kinds of comments about it,
but I'm not interested in what those fellows out there do. The
AIDS epidemic? There's no question. This is
God's judgment on this nation and this society. There's no
question about that. The only people who question
that are folks who don't have any idea who God is. The sickness,
the disease, the pestilence, there's no question. This is
God's judgment. This is God's judgment. And these
judgments... I watched that tidal wave, the
results of it as it swept across Bangladesh a few years ago. Just
level things. And men and women stand back
and they're just astounded. How could this be? How could
this happen? What's going on here? And I thought of our text
this morning. These are the beginnings of sorrows. Just the beginning. Just the
beginning. Now that's the title of my message
this morning. You'll find my text here in Mark chapter 13.
Let's read verses one through eight. And as the Lord Jesus
went out of the temple, one of his disciples said unto him,
Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings these are.
And Jesus answering said unto him, seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone
upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon
the mountain of olives over against the temple, Peter, James, and
John, and Andrew asked him privately, tell us, when shall these things
be? What shall be the sign when all
these shall be fulfilled? And Jesus answering them, began
to say, take heed. Now notice his answer. They asked
him, Lord, tell us, when's this going to happen? You said you're
going to destroy this temple? When is this? What's the sign
of this time? And the Lord answers the question
by not answering it. Listen to what he says. He answering
them began to say, take heed. That ought not be your concern.
That ought not be the thing that concerns you. Take heed, lest
any man deceive you. For many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And when you shall
hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled, for such
things must needs be. But the end shall not be yet.
For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall
be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. Just the forerunners, just the
beginning. These things are just forerunners
of that great and terrible day when God shall judge all the
world in strict justice. They're just forerunners of wrath
by which God warns us of the infinite, eternal, immeasurable,
indescribable wrath that shall be relentlessly poured out upon
all the ungodly in everlasting damnation in hell. These things
are just the beginnings of sorrows. If you're not in too big a hurry
to go to hell, I pray God will give me your attention. I know
something about the terror of the Lord. And knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, I pray God the Holy Spirit will speak
by this preacher and by his word and persuade you now to be reconciled
to God. You who are without Christ, I
wish somehow I could Sit down, talk to you just plainly. Look
you right in the face. There's nobody else here. Are
you listening to me? Listen to me now. You're a sinner. And that's not a compliment.
A sinner is a person with willful heart, deliberately living with
his fists shall square in God's face, saying, I'll be my own
God. There's no evil in the world.
No evil in the world. You think, well, I, you know,
I might be a sinner, but I'm not like anybody. I'm not like
this fellow over here. There's not any evil in this world you
won't do if God will let you. Nothing. Nothing. Anything you've
ever thought you're capable of doing. That's exactly right. Wouldn't have thought it if it
wasn't in you. Oh, I'm not that bad. Oh, I can't begin to describe
to you how bad you are. You're a sinner. Because you
are a sinner, the wrath of God Almighty is on you. It's not
something that's going to be. The wrath of God that today burns
the fires of hell is on you. Oh my God, it's on you. You're
under the wrath of God. There's just a breath between
you and eternal damnation and God holds the breath. Just a
breath. The only hope for your soul is
the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God. If God leaves you to
yourself, wake up and pay attention to me. If God leaves you to yourself,
you're going to hell. There's just no question about
that. Unless God intervenes, and grants you life. Unless God
gives you faith, unless God snaps you out of your willful rebellion,
snatches you out of your grave and your death, you're gonna
perish. The only hope for you is to believe
on the Son of God. Trust the Son of God. And I know
you don't, but if you had good sense, you'd start praying, God
give me faith. Oh God, enable me to trust your
son. Give me what you alone can give
me. Call me to believe on your son.
Believing on him alone will give you that peace of conscience
that's clothed in the righteousness of Christ, washed in his blood,
knowing that your sins are blotted out, have been blotted out by
the son of God himself. Oh, may God cause you now to
lay hold on eternal life, to wash your soul today in the blood
of Christ, to plunge into that fountain drawn from Immanuel's
veins and be washed whiter than snow. Oh, God, credit for Christ's
sake. Now, with that in mind, let's
look at this portion of scripture we've read. And I want to show
you three things. First, in verses one through
four. We have here a declaration of the destruction of the temple
at Jerusalem. This 13th chapter of Mark is
full of prophecy. It speaks of the destruction
of the temple at Jerusalem, the destruction of the Jewish nation
and the Jewish church state. the destruction of the civil
government of that Jewish nation, as our Lord had Himself predicted
back in Genesis chapter 49 and verse 10, where the Lord God
gives this prophecy. He said, the scepter shall not
depart from Judah. That is, the law and government
shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come, and to him shall
the gathering of the people be. Now Shiloh stands before them,
and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God's Shiloh, that one to
whom God will gather all his elect from the four corners of
the earth, he stands and he says, this temple is about to be destroyed. And in 40 years, the Lord God
came in the armies of Titus in 70 AD and leveled the city and
didn't leave one stone standing on top of the other. Not only
is this a prophecy of the destruction of the Jewish church state, and
the destruction of the temple. It is also a prophecy concerning
the glorious second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. We will
read that later in the passage, but this chapter certainly speaks
of our Lord's second coming. Now, while no one knows the day
or the hour or even the approximate day or hour, nobody does. Nobody, nobody, nobody has got
any idea when Christ is coming. No one does. Folks say, well,
I've got this figured out. No, I'm sorry. We'll, we'll be
pleasant. Smile and say, well, you, you
have a good day, but you hadn't got it figured out. Nobody's
got it figured out yet. Nobody's going to. Our Lord said
of that day and hour knows no man, no, not even the son of
man. It's best for you not to know the times and seasons, but
we are assured throughout the scriptures that our Lord Jesus
Christ is coming again. And Bob, that's enough. That's
enough. He's coming. When's He coming?
When He gets ready to. When's He coming? When He's finished
all He planned to do. When's He coming? When the last
of His elect to save. When's He coming? Maybe right
now. Maybe a thousand years from now. It doesn't really matter.
It doesn't really matter. He's coming. And we are to live
in the immediate anticipation of His coming right now, all
the time. So that we look for Him to fulfill
His Word, serving Him on the tiptoe of faith. Say, well, wouldn't
it be good if we could point to fellows and say, now, Paul,
the Lord's going to come next week. He's going to be here next
week. Boy, that'd make you straighten
up. No, that's not the way to live. No, it'd make us negligent
of our daily responsibilities. Lord, come in next week. You
sure? Well, I quit my job. I'm reading my Bible all the
time. I want to get in a real spiritual frame of mind. That's
not a spiritual frame of mind. Spiritual frame of mind is to
walk with Christ every day, fulfilling your responsibilities every day
in this world for the glory of God. Just what you were teaching
this morning. Just exactly that. That's how we live in this world.
If we knew exactly when he was coming, we would be irresponsible
and useless. It's our business to walk with
him in the anticipation of his coming on the tiptoe of faith.
Even so, come Lord Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus. Now that's
what the scriptures declare here. Enough, though, about the prophecy
that's spoken of in this passage. You will notice, as I call your
attention to it, that our Lord Jesus, when his disciples ask
him, when are these things going to be? What signs will you give
us? As Mark records it here, our
Lord just didn't hardly answer their question. He rather sees
this opportunity to direct their attention to something more important,
something more vital, something more significant for right now.
He rather warns them of their present danger and warns them
of the danger lurking around the corner and urges them to
their present responsibility. Now, having said that, I wish
I could get the attention of everybody in this world, but
I particularly ask to get your attention. When you start getting
intrigued with things that don't really matter. What doesn't really
matter? Things that are not plainly revealed
don't matter. Did you hear that? Things that
are not plainly revealed just don't matter. They just don't
matter. Things that have no bearing on your present relationship
with Jesus Christ just don't matter. When you start getting
intrigued with things, you think, boy, this is deep stuff. That's
not deep stuff. It's a delusion. The reason it
seems deep is because it's dark. And children of God are to walk
in light. Our Lord calls our attention
rather to important, real matters of present, pressing concern
in our lives every day. Now, Bobby, what I've got to
say to you today is necessary for you right now. Right now. And it's necessary for everybody
here. What does the Holy Spirit intend for us to learn? When
the disciples walked out of the temple with the Lord, they were
typical Jews in many respects, though they were converted by
God's grace. Man, that temple was the center of Jewish religion. Sometimes these fellows build
these big cathedrals and churches and all this, and they think
they've got something to be proud of. This temple was spectacular. They looked at the third temple
that had been erected there. And they said, look at this great,
great piece of architecture. Look at this splendid building. Look at its rich ornaments. Look
at this building. Look at these stones. They were
proud of the bricks in the building. Look at these stones. What a
marvelous, marvelous thing this is. Now then, they said, Master,
see what manner of stones And what buildings are here? Aren't
you proud of this? And Jesus answering said unto
them, seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be
left one stone upon another. They shall not be thrown down.
What would the spirit of God have us to learn from these things?
Obviously, he intends us to learn something more than the fact
that the Lord destroyed the temple in 70 AD. The very first thing
that seems obvious to me is this. Every mere form of religion,
every mere form of worship, every mere religious ceremony, every
mere religious doctrine, every mere form of godliness, which
denies the power of godliness, is an abomination to God. Now
that takes in the whole gamut. The Jews' religion was rich in
tradition. Nobody had a tradition like theirs.
Rich in history. Nobody had history like theirs.
Rich in the forefathers of the church. Abraham's our father. Man, we had our beginning with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We got our doctrine from Moses
himself. They were rich in tradition,
but they had long since forsaken the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. They had long since forsaken the word of God given by Moses. They had long since forsaken
the worship and the truth of God. So the religion, splendid
as it was in all its outward appearance, was just a form of
godliness. Nothing else. They were impressed. They had a name to live, but
they were dead. Well, how does that apply to
us? Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. Hold your hands there. 2 Timothy
3, know this also, then the last days perilous times shall come. Perilous times. Peril, not just a danger, peril
is an imminent serious danger. Perilous times shall come. For
men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And this is talking
about religious folks, having a form of godliness, but denying
the power thereof. The power of godliness is the
gospel of God's free grace in Christ. That's the power of it. This is the power of God unto
salvation. The power of godliness is the declaration of salvation
by faith alone, through Christ alone, by the grace of God alone. Now, any form of godliness that
does not declare that gospel plainly and clearly has denied
the power of it, and the Lord God demands of us that we come
out from it and be not partakers of it. What are you going to
do with the religion? What are you going to do with
this church? What are you going to do here? Well, do they worship
God? No. Do they preach the gospel?
No. Do they declare the truth of
God? No. Well, Babylon is the name. And our Lord says, come
out of it, lest you be partakers of her plagues. And next, we
will do well to remember that we are all too much inclined
to judge things by the outward appearance. These disciples,
though they were instructed of the Lord, looked at that temple
and the doors and the stones and all the ornate fixtures of
that temple. Boy, they were impressed. Surely
the Lord would be pleased with this. Master, what stones are
these? What a fine building this is
that we built. We're too much like children.
If you took a young child out here and you had a field full
of dandelions, and a field full of corn ready to be picked. Which
one do you reckon they go to first? Pebbles, dandelions, and
blow up. Have a good time. And we are
too much, too much impressed with outward things. That which
is pleasing to men is an abomination to God. But we're pleased with
those things that appeal to our senses. You know, you listen
to music and you want some music, kind of got a tap to it, and
you want some music that makes you feel good about yourself
or your grandma or your experiences, rather than that which exalts
and praises and honors God. We look at buildings and we think,
man, that's impressive. Will you hear me? That which
is essential to the worship of God is not physical, it's spiritual. God's spirit. They that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. That which is essential
is the gospel of God's grace, the revelation of God's glory,
the presence of God's spirit, the knowledge of God's Son. That's
eternal life. All the other trappings are just
unnecessary. If we have these things, the
gospel of God, the revelation of his glory, the presence of
his spirit, and the knowledge of his son. If we have these
things, Ron, we've got everything we need. But if we're lacking
these things, we've got nothing, just a form of godliness. Let
us learn our Lord's words and understand that the glory of
the church is not in buildings, creeds, rituals, and history.
but in the knowledge of and faith in the Son of God. That's it. I've got friends all over the
country who are trying their best to rescue the Southern Baptist
Convention as if there was folks who hear this or Southern Baptist,
don't get mad. I'm not fussing with Southern
Baptist, but they're just not anything to rescue. There never
was. There never was. Oh, we got we
got the tradition. We got the history. Not like
these folks had. Not like these folks here. Our
Lord said, I'm going to destroy this thing. You may as well be
face up with it. You may as well. But we've got
to save this. What you're going to do is compromise
the gospel, trying to save a form of godliness. It's exactly what
you're going to try to do. Yet we must not run to the absurd
extreme of being indifferent about the buildings which we
set aside for the worship of God. I want to spend just a minute
or two here, but there's nothing wrong. There's absolutely nothing
wrong with a congregation of people meeting in a barn or in
a tent or under a tree. I preach to folks in cow pastures.
I have to step around the cow pies while I was preaching. That's
just fine. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that.
If that's the best you can do. Did you hear me? If that's the
best you can do. But I've been in churches around
the country and around the world where men and women meet in a
building that's little more than a tar paper shack. And they live
in richly furnished, gorgeous, fine houses. That's an abomination. That's an abomination. The Lord
God has given us a place dedicated to the worship of God. And I
speak specifically to you men, you deacons particularly, But
I speak to every one of us. We ought to take as good a care
of this place as we do any house we live in. At least that good. We ought to see to it that things
here are as well maintained as they are in our own houses. This
is a place, James, where we've set aside to worship God Almighty. Nothing here ought to be done
half-hearted. Nothing here ought to be done halfway. This is set
aside for God's glory. I say to Paul all the time, And
everything around here, everything around here reflects, has a reflection
on what we believe concerning God, His glory, and the gospel
of His grace. Is it important or isn't it?
Well, you having company? Important for your house to look
pretty good? Well, yeah. You know, my in-laws
are coming. That's nothing. We're coming
here to worship God Almighty. And it'll all be taken care of
that way. There's something else here. Our Lord warns us here
of the deception of the world. Jesus answering them, verse five,
said unto them, or began to say, take heed, lest any man deceive
you. For many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. Now, this warning
goes beyond someone coming up and saying, I'm Christ, I'm the
Christ of God, I'm the Messiah, I'm the Savior. Every now and
then throughout history since, ever since our Lord left this
world, some Some Yehu has come along and he said, I am Christ.
I am the Savior. I am the Messiah. Follow me.
And fools will follow him, a few, but not many, not many. That's
not the deception he's talking about here, particularly. Matter
of fact, in the latter part of the chapter, you'll see it clearly.
Our Lord is warning about those who will come false prophets
and preach another Christ. who will tell men to follow another
Christ, an easier way, a broader way, a wider gate than this which
our Lord has declared. And our Lord says, now be careful,
lest any man deceive you with this false Christ. And many have
gone out, many. The false Christ of the liberals
and the cults, they say Jesus Christ is not God. Such folks
don't know God. There's no point in debating
this issue. There's no point in talking about this issue. If Christ is
not God, this book's a lie. Our religions are false. We're
all in our sins. And we're all going to hell. Just forget it
all. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. And so those who come along and
say, He is a God. He's like God. He's a creature
of God. The first creature of God. The best creature of God.
The highest creature of God. They don't know God. They just
don't know God. The false Christ of the Papists,
those who come along and say that Christ is Savior, but now
you got to come to Mass and you got to have the bread and wine,
got to be in the church, got to worship Mary, pray to angels,
pray to dead folks. That's good idolatry, but it's
not Christianity. It's not Christianity. The false
Christ of the Charismatics. Christ is Lord, but you've got
to speak in tongues and water on the floor and act crazy. That's
foolishness. It's not Christianity. It's not
Christianity. I know lots of Christians involved
in that. I'm sorry, you don't. You don't. Christianity has nothing
to do with that tomfoolery. Nothing at all. That's a religious
deception. Read 2 Thessalonians 2. Our Lord
told us that plainly. the false Christ of the Arminian,
the free willer. They say Christ comes to save
and tries to save and wants to save. If you let him, that's
not Christianity. It's a deception. The fact is,
if you would be saved, you must know, love, trust, and worship
the Christ of God. If you don't worship him, you're
just as well off to worship a tadpole. That's not too plain, is it?
That's just fact. Our Lord says, take heed, beware. Pastor, do you mean that these
who worship another Christ are deceived and lost? I told you
this world is under the judgment of God. Under the judgment of
God. And then one more thing. Our
Lord here speaks in verses seven and eight of the displays of
judgment. And when you hear of wars and
rumors of wars, be not you troubled, for such things must needs be,
but the end shall not be yet. Nations shall rise against nation
and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes
in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles. These
are the beginnings of sorrows, but that's nothing compared to
the sorrow awaiting you when you meet God in judgment, if
he finds you outside Christ. God help you now to flee to Christ. Lest the sorrow of hell take
hold of you. Amen.