Sweetness hits and throngs upon the Savior's
brow. Majestic sweetness hits and throngs
upon the Savior's brow. He's in the grace of glory's
crown. His lips with grace are full. His lips with grace foreflow. No mortal can with Him compare
among the sons of men. Fairer is He than all the men
who feel the heavenly train, who feel the heavenly train. He stole me, plunged in deep
distress, but who do I redeem? For me He bore the shameful cross
And carried all my grief And carried all my grief To Him I
owe my life and breath And all the joys I have He makes me triumph
over death And saved me from the grave. And saved me from the grave. After Scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing Hymn Number 15, I believe it is. Need the mic. The Abbey Bibles tells me the
24th chapter of Matthew. When ye therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand
in the holy place, who readeth, and let him understand. And let
them which are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him which
is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house.
And 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 winter, but be on the Sabbath day. And then shall be
great tribulation, such as was not seen since the beginning
of the world to this time. No, not ever shall be. Except
those days should be shortened, there should be no flesh saved.
But for the elect's sake, those days have been shortened. Then
if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there,
believe it not, where there shall rise false Christs and false
prophets and show great signs and wonders insomuch that if
at all possible they would deceive the very elect. Behold, I told
you before, wherefore there shall say of thee, Behold, he is in
the desert, go not forth. Behold, he is in the great secret
chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out
of the east and shineth into the west, so shall also be the
coming of the Son of Man be. For whosoever For wheresoever
the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Our Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you for your word,
which is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. that enables us to believe your
word and cling to it and know that this is the word of God
which liveth and abideth forever. In a world that changes by minute,
we are thankful that we have the one thing that never changes.
We have our God and his word. We are thankful and to Him, knowing that He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. Because He does not
change, the sons of Jacob are not consumed. We thank you for
the shed blood of Jesus Christ, which put away our sins. We are thankful that all our
salvation from pole to pole is exclusively the work of your
hand. We thank you for your Holy Spirit
that takes the things of Christ and reveals them unto us. Thankful for this congregation,
Father, for their allegiance to the gospel, for steadfastness
in the truth. we can come into your presence
boldly to seek help in our time of need. And we know as what
we are by nature, we never are without need of thee. Help us
this day to worship you in spirit and in truth. Oh ? You're the Lord our God ? ? Will
you pray with all your power ? ? While we try to reach the
Word ? ? All is made of this the Spirit of the Holy One God
now ? Ren, Renfrae and holy manna will be showered all around And
when Seymour's sinners round you slumbering on the brink of
war Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them
go? See our fathers and our mothers
and our children speaking now. Friend, we're praying, holy man
of you, we shout all around. Sisters, will you join and help
us Tell Him that He will be found Sisters prayin', holy manna will
be showered all around! Let us love our God supremely! Let us love each other! we'll sit down Let us pray. Father, hear we approach in the
name and the perfection, the glory of our Savior, who died in the womb instead
of His people, gave held nothing back, but actually
died in our room instead, so that we might never face your
judgment, nor shall we ever die, but will go to sleep in this
flesh and wake up yonder in the glory of your presence. We thank
you that you take care of us, and let us render unto thee what
belongs to you, because you give it all to us. Let us do so with
joy and thanksgiving and praise in our hearts for Christ's sake
and for His glory. Amen. I invite your attention back to Matthew chapter
24 if you're reading along with me. You know that this passage
of scripture in these last few days and months
has taken on a whole life of its own. People are talking about
these things like it's being written in the newspapers. And
I will say this about that. If you want to know what the
Lord is doing, all you have to do is read today's paper and
find that out because He's controlling all things, ruling over all things,
manipulating all things to His glory and the glory of His Son's
name. But when people read these words,
they automatically start talking about eschatology. And these
words of our Lord here in Matthew 24, verses 15 through 28, are
part of the Lord's answer to the questions of His disciples
concerning the destruction of the temple, His second coming,
and the end of the world. We find that in verse 3. And
as He said upon Mount Hollis, disciples came unto Him privately
saying, tell us, When shall these things be and what shall be the
sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? When you have political upheaval
and division and strife everywhere and all around you, people look
to these things and say, well, it's a happening. It's a happening. These things fall either in the
past or in the future. Men and women of religion have
found them to be historical and eschatological playgrounds where
they can place these events in a context that has very little
or nothing to do with actually what this is talking about and
very little to do with their life in the present day. A cursory look at the tone of
the words here spoken finds no language that would cause anyone
to feel that he may hear these words in anything but urgency. That's the language used, is
urgent language I'm only speaking. The sense of the words, whether
they consider the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem or
the coming of the Lord to gather his elect to himself, whether
you were standing and listening to him then or hearing his words
today, the message that something is about to happen. And that
writes it. The believer knows that all scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is propped before a doctrine
of truth, correction, and instruction, that the man of God might be
truly furnished unto all his works. And the believer knows
also that God is not on a timetable. as we think of time. But the
scripture declares that that which hath been is now and that
which is to be has already been. That's the language of scripture.
This passage is about our Lord's care for his people and is his
tender preparation of them for the tribulations and trials that
are sure to come in this world at any time. It also speaks of His coming. These are His words for His elect,
believers all. There are several things here
in this passage. When our Lord God destroyed Jerusalem,
the Temple, the nation of Israel, He made a final declaration Our Lord Jesus Christ died on
Calvary's tree. He said, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book, it is written me to do thy will, O God. He taketh
away the first and establishes the second. He finished the old
Mosaic legal system of worship. And that's clearly set forth
in verses 15 through 21. Historically, these words concern
the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Roman soldiers. It was a horrible, and a miserable
day for the Jews when Titus showed up, not including the ones that
perished in the city itself. More than a million Jews were
slaughtered that day, and in the neighborhood of 100,000 Jews
were carried away into slavery. It was assuredly for the Jews
that day was a day of great tribulation such as not been seen since the
beginning of the world. And in a sense, the events of
that time were but the answer from God to what the people had
requested when they said, crucify him and let his blood be upon
our head. When he destroyed their city,
he destroyed their entire system and means of worship. And rightly
so, because it was all just a picture and a shadow. of things that
were to come. All of it had been fulfilled
by Jesus Christ. The substance had arrived, the
sun of righteousness had arisen, and the shadow was dispelled.
The daily sacrifices, the yearly feasts, the mercy seat, the holy
of holies, the priesthood, the altar, the table of showbread,
all were essential parts of worship during the time of shadow When
Christ came and died and buried him and rose from the grave and
ascended to the right hand of God, the legal system under which
the old covenant operated ceased to function. It was retired from
active duty. God destroyed it forever, for
it says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
them that believe. What need is there of an earthly
physical temple? Christ is our temple and we are
his body. We are the temple and he is our
head. What need is there of a material
altar? Christ is our altar. What need
is there of an earthly mercy seat? Christ is our mercy seat,
which is interpreted four times in the New Testament as propitiation. What need is there of the Sabbath
days? Christ is our Sabbath. He is our rest. He is our peace. In Christ we are totally free
from the yoke of bondage. We are not under the law. We
are under grace, say the scriptures. We're not under the law. Galatians
and Colossians were all written to show that explicitly that
the law took them out of the way and
nailed them to His cross and defeated them and put them out
of the way. We're at liberty. We're God's
free men and God's free women. We stand in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made us free. And those who know this and rejoice
in it will never again be under the yoke of bondage. where they
know that Christ has fulfilled all that God required in the
law. And he answered the law's justice
by his death. And there's nothing for the believer
to have anything to do with the law but thank God for its purpose
in showing us what we are and revealing how wretched we are.
Another thing learned from Being prudent and choosing your
battle is a valuable thing to learn. We don't have to look
for a fight. They will come because sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof, saith the scripture. Our Lord
plainly told his disciples in this passage, if you're in Judea,
if you're on a housetop, don't pack your bags. Get out. Get out. Leave. Flee. Now this does not indicate cowardice. There is no question that we
are to confess Christ before men and if indeed need die for
him, but there are times when it is more gracious and prudent
to be silent than to get into a fight. We must never walk away from
what we know to be the right thing to do. We must never deny
or be willing to compromise the gospel of Christ, even for life's
sake. We must also remember that sometimes
the fight may be more about our own pride than about the glory
of Christ. And without our participation,
the enemy fights as one that beateth the air. and his surgeon was a Muslim
man. Now I expect Scott found it prudent
not to discuss theology with that man who was going to wield
the scaffold prior to his surgery. I expect he thought, let's not
talk about the gospel with this guy. It's not a good move. There's a right time to stand
for things. by the fact that you're in a
crowd of unbelievers and a crowd of religious fools that you remain
quiet as they spout their foolishness. Sometimes it's hard to hold up
the banner of truth in the midst of your enemies. It just is.
Our Lord said, when the troubles come to here, in this situation,
flee. Get out of here. Another thing
plainly taught in verses 22 through 24, 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 to
you, lo, here is Christ, and there is Christ, 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,
which means it's not possible, if it were possible it wouldn't
deceive the very elect. But they can't be deceived. Those days of tribulation are
shortened for the elect's sake. Now shortened for God may not
be shortened for us. Human history is a display of
God's love and care for His elect. He hears their prayers. Prayers
are part of the armor that's spoken of in Ephesians chapter
6. He keeps them by His Spirit. He orders all the affairs of
the world for their good, for all things work together for
good to them that love God to them that call according to His
promise. He neither allows men nor devils to harm them, devil
harm you, he might use the devil. The devil is his ape. The devil is his monkey and he
can tell the devil what to do and use the devil. He did with
Joe. The devil didn't start that fight with Joe. God did. He said, you see my servant.
God said, you see my servant, Joe. He's a good man. He loves what's good and hates
what's evil. The devil said, well, Made him viable, had a lot of
children. Richest man in the area. He don't
serve you for nothing. Let me touch his skin. Now, let
me take what he has and see if he'll serve you. The Lord said,
go ahead. He took everything he had, even
his 10 children. Killed them. Allowed him to say,
let me do that. And Job's response was, the Lord
giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And then we'll come again before the Lord. He said, you see my
servant Job? He took everything he had. He's still serving me.
He said, you let me touch his skin. You might have to make
him sick. Because sickness, sickness makes us all weak and frail,
fearful. Let me make him sick. The Lord
said, go ahead. He smote him with balls all over
his body. Well, he had to sit outside.
Couldn't even sit down. Sat by the fireside and took
ashes and pot shoves and scraped the cores out of his bones. His wife said, why don't you
just curse God and die? But he didn't. He said, so I
have wonderful things from the Lord and not hard things too. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He'll use the devil for his purpose.
He told Peter, the devil has desired you and he might sift
you like wheat. But I pray for you, faith won't
fail you. It looked like it was failing though when the devil
started sifting, he denied Christ three times. and joined up with guys who wanted
to have everybody circumcised. Despise the grace of God. That's
how Paul said it. You despise the grace of God.
The devil is sick to them. God may
let the devil sick to us. But he's praying for us. And
our faith will not fail. The Lord sacrifices men and nations
for His people. He said that I gave Ethiopia
and Sheba for thee. I just wiped them out. And He
says in Isaiah chapter 3, which reads like today's newspaper,
after saying that He's going to take away the staff from Israel,
Take away the honorable men and the honorable women. Take away
those who have integrity. Take away those who have power.
Put in power like babies who can't make decisions and say
silly things. And you put them in power because
they look good and they wear pretty clothes. He said, your
son, New Feast, I despise those things. They don't have anything
to do with me. It shall be well with thee. He said the elect will not be
deceived. They'll not be deceived. I despise
false religion. I was in it for a long time and
know what I'm left. I know what I'm left behind. But I'll tell you this. I know
this. All the false religion in the
world, no matter who it is and where it comes from, whether
Baptist or Muslim, all the false religion in the world will never
ever see one of God's elect. They just won't. They just won't. Something else in verses 24 through
26, it says there are many Antichrists in the world. Any religion, any
doctrine, any gospel that turns your eyes away from Jesus Christ
alone for all of your salvation is Antichrist. A Christ who loves
but cannot save is Antichrist. A Christ who redeems but does
not possess what he has purchased is Antichrist. A Christ who calls
but does not cause the one he calls to come is Antichrist. A Christ whose works depend upon
the will or work of the sinner to make it effectual and complete
is Antichrist. A Christ who wills the salvation
of any who are not actually saved by His power is Antichrist. Test the spirits. Test the prophets. Test the teachers. See what they
say, for there are many false prophets entered into this world.
And this is the test. Did Jesus Christ come into the
flesh, God and His Son of Man, come down here? Has He died in
the room instead of His people and secured their salvation? everyone come to His feet? Will they park at mercy's door
for the rest of their life and praise His grace for salvation
till the day they die? For redeemed by the blood be
their song forever? Yes. Yes. He's the Christ. And if anybody says, no, no,
that stuff's true. They're anti-Christ. Another
thing in verse 27, it says, for as the lightning cometh out of
the east and shineth even upon the west, so shall be the coming
of the Son of Man be. So he's not only talking about
the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, he's talking about
the destruction of the world at his coming, at his coming. When our Lord comes again, it
ain't gonna be some secret thing where a whole bunch of people
disappear and airplanes fall out of the sky. Does it sound
like a secret rapture? For as the lightning cometh out
of the east and shineth even to the west, so shall the coming
of the Son of Man be. Sound like a secret rapture?
I don't think so. When our Lord appears, His coming will be as
starling and as sudden as a loud bolt of lightning. You want a
big big bang theory? There you go. There you go. Look over at 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5. See what he says. so-called secret
rapture book, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye
have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so cometh as of this evening and night.
For when they shall say peace and safety, that's religion.
Everything's okay. Don't worry about it. Like the
scoffers in 2 Peter chapter 3 said, he ain't coming back, he ain't
coming back. You can come and put off the awful day, as if
those at ease in Jerusalem, or at ease in Zion, put off the
awful day of judgment, say it ain't coming. For when they shall
say, pief and safety, sudden destruction cometh upon them,
as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
But ye brethren, but ye brethren, are not in darkness. That day
should over you and take you as a thief. You are the children
of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night
nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. We're looking for him.
Ain't gonna be a surprise when he shows up and says, well, we've
been looking for you. You're finally here, thank the
Lord. Let us who are of the day be
sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet
the hope of salvation. The delight of every believer
is to look for the Lord Jesus Christ. When the clouds roll
back as a scroll, when the trump shall resound, the Lord shall
ascend. We'll all say, even so, even
so, it is well with my soul. The believer wakes with anticipatory
exhilaration. for the day of the coming of
the Lord. Finally, look at verse 28, it
says, For whosoever the carcass is, there shall the eagles be
gathered together. Strange language, isn't it? If
you're anything like me, you've always been intrigued by these
words of our Lord. What do you reckon they mean?
There are two prevailing views on this verse, and I believe
that both are correct or reasonable. I believe they can safely be
asserted that foul, unclean birds feed upon dead carcasses. We
know that. The first view is this. It's
a picture of religion. The carcasses are the men and
women who cling to it with intractable tenacity and salacious hunger,
even to the destruction of their lives and the lives of their
children. So it is this very hour. Find a church that is utterly
dead, void of knowledge of God, his gospel, his word, his grace,
his son, his glory, and you will find a church full of lost religionist
teaching, preaching, and trying to live by the law. And where
there is no life, people cling to rituals, ceremonies, and creeds,
and emotionalism. And these are putrefaction and are joy in the nostrils of
the carrion crows that feed on carrion. The other view is that
Christ himself is referred to by the carcass. It may seem strange,
but when our Lord hung in agonies on the tree, he did not appear
to men as anything but a slain beast. Isaiah chapter 52, verse
14 says, His visage was marred He was a lamb that had been slain,
that's how he's described. And that word slain means drawn
and quartered. He was slain for our sins. So
much of what we do has to do with his death. Everything has
to do with this great thing called Calvary. The Lord's table is
designed to show forth his death till he comes, baptism is a confession
of his death, and the elect's death in him. The preaching of
the gospel is a declaration of the accomplishments of his death.
The angels then refer to sinners like you and me who flee to him
for salvation and life to him. Shall the gathering of the people
be said, the scripture, our Lord crucified, is the great lodestone,
the divine, irresistible bankment of the elect. They shall come
to me, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and none
that come to me will I cast out. I, if I be lifted up, will draw
all men to me. This he spake of the death he
should die. In a sense, we come together
here three times every week to feed upon the glorious carcass
of the Lord Jesus Christ, to preach Christ, to crucify The
Lamb of God, this is our song of heaven. Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain, that has redeemed us by His blood out of every
nation, country, tongue, and people, and has made us kings
and priests under our God. For the believer, the Bible speaks
of tribulation, and tribulation and trouble and sorrow and woe
are his sure fellow travelers in this soldier. But there is
a place to lay your aching head. a soft, cool cloth to wipe your
feverish brow. It's the washed cloth of elective
love, the crucified Savior, the divine providence. God does everything,
everything, everything for the elect's sake. Father, bless us
to understand and pray in Christ's name.