The Great Tribulation

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

00:07

What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

00:17

We truly believe that it's important for the Christian church to have an engagement in the public square with the word of God.

00:23

So we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world. I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this, and that is that I'm not your pastor.

00:33

Though I'd love to be, I am not your pastor. And it's very important as you're watching this, you know that it's

00:40

God's design for individual Christians to be part of a local Christian church under the care of qualified faithful biblical elders.

00:49

And so as much as we love all of you watching these sermons, and we're thankful to God that God uses them to bless you, to encourage you,

00:56

I do want to encourage you as a minister of the gospel to get plugged into a local body of believers, particularly

01:02

I think important a reformed church would be best. But we want to encourage you to get plugged into a solid biblical church where you can fellowship, where you can worship, where you can serve, where you can be connected.

01:16

That is vitally important and actually a biblical command. And so as much as again as we love for your participation, your partnership, and we are so thankful to God that he's using these in your lives, we want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church.

01:29

You can though actually partner with Apologia Church as we proclaim the gospel and provide a defense of the biblical gospel all around the world.

01:37

You can do that by going to ApologiaStudios .com. You can partner with us by becoming all access.

01:42

When you do, you help to make all of this possible and you get all of our TV shows, our after shows, and Apologia Academy, all of that.

01:51

And you're a part of all that God is doing with us in the world to proclaim, herald the gospel of the kingdom.

01:57

You can partner with us. And I want to say one last word about that. Do make sure that none of your giving and partnership towards Apologia Church interferes with your giving, your worship, your tithes, your offerings to a local body of believers in your area.

02:14

So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. Gospel according to Matthew chapter 24.

02:21

So you might be wondering, well, what happened to chapter 23? I'm going to read a section here because today what

02:27

I wanted to do was to do a foundation message that would prepare us to enter into chapters 23 and 24 in a way that guards us from error, in a way that encourages us to faithfully handle the words of God.

02:47

This next section of scripture has been abused many, many times, has caused catastrophe in many people's lives and has been used to give rise to many cults, apocalyptic cults.

03:02

And so it's important as we enter into this section of scripture, we have a foundation beneath us in terms of how we handle the word of God.

03:10

So just a section to read. There are so many choices here in this section, but chapter 24, we're going to read from verses 15 on.

03:20

Matthew 24, verse 15, hear now the words of the living and the true

03:25

God. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet

03:32

Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

03:40

Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.

03:48

And alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a

03:56

Sabbath, for then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no and never will be.

04:07

And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

04:15

As far as the reading of God's holy word, let's pray. Fathers, we come as your people, redeemed by you through your son, to this section of scripture.

04:31

We ask for your blessing. We ask that you teach us, Lord, by your spirit.

04:37

Guard us from error and in particular guard my mouth from error. As we approach this section of scripture,

04:44

I pray, Lord, that Christ would be magnified, glorified, that it would create within us reverence for you, godly fear and trust.

04:56

Lord, you know all things. You know everything, God. You know how people have so often used these texts of scripture to hurt people.

05:08

And so we pray, Lord, that you'd help us to understand your word in a way that makes so much of Jesus.

05:15

We pray, Lord God, that I would decrease, Christ would increase, that your people would forget my name in this and remember the words of your son in Jesus' name.

05:25

Amen. So, gospel according to Matthew. We've been in this for some time now and we're into this section.

05:35

I told you for a long time we're coming to this climax of Matthew's narrative, of the story that Matthew is giving to us.

05:43

Very Jewish context. You have to keep that in mind. And I'm going to say that we understand that now, by now, that there's a very

05:51

Jewish context and background to the gospel according to Matthew. Of course to all the gospels, but Matthew writes in such a way as to reach the

05:59

Jew of the first century. Using terminology even, that even in the section I just read,

06:05

Luke uses different terminology. Same moment, same situation. Luke actually gives a gentile explanation.

06:13

I'm understanding that maybe if you're not really Jewish, what's Daniel and the abomination of desolation?

06:19

What is all that about? Well, Luke has a different way of actually reciting what was said there in a way that could be understood by people maybe who aren't

06:27

Jewish. Unpacking it. There's a Jewish background we have to make sure that we consider when we enter into this next section.

06:35

When I say Jewish background, I'm pointing back to the Old Testament scriptures. We need to understand our

06:40

Old Testament. Amen? Yes? No, it's interesting. I've got to get everyone to agree with that because there are people today propagating an idea that we need to unhitch the

06:48

Old Testament from the New Testament. We disregard so much of what God says there. And so there's really an ignorance of Old Testament background, language, symbolism.

06:58

So when we read the gospel according to Matthew without an understanding of that world, that worldview, those symbols, that language, and we enter into a text like Matthew 24, the sky's the limit.

07:12

It can become anything that we want if we don't understand the world that this came from, the mindset that this came from.

07:20

Remember, never forget that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. He's the coming one, that promised one from God in the

07:28

Hebrew scriptures. And now we have gospel according to Matthew, very Jewish context, the

07:33

Jewish Messiah being put on full display. Matthew is demonstrating to us in the gospel according to Matthew that Jesus fits the bill, that he fulfills everything that God said was going to happen in Messiah.

07:47

That's Matthew's story. He's explaining this in such a way as to satisfy all of the waiting of the

07:54

Jews. They've been waiting and longing for Messiah and now here he is and Matthew is demonstrating that.

08:01

And this, of course, is the climax of Matthew's story, moving to the climax, of course. Jesus, as we know, we've been here for the last couple of months, has come into Jerusalem as expected with that message of salvation and what?

08:17

Judgment. Salvation and judgment. We know of all these recent condemnations in these recent chapters where Jesus is condemning those covenant breakers.

08:27

He's cursing a fig tree, flipping tables. We know the story of the temple cleansing and all of that is behind us now.

08:34

And now Jesus in 23 and 24 is going to have contact. He's going to specifically confront the people of his day, the leadership in Jerusalem of his day.

08:46

He's going to come in such a way as to give a vivid display that he is the one who was to be expected and he gives specific prophecy here.

08:57

Now, this is vital. This is so important. Come with me now. Eschatology, the study of last things, we've got to be so careful about as Christians.

09:07

We have to be careful because we're handling the very words of God. We have to be careful not to bring our preconceived ideas of what the end times is about and to put that into the text, to read the text through our eschatological presuppositions.

09:25

We have to be careful because people have used these passages, these discussions about the end times.

09:34

They've used them to abuse, to hurt, to lead people astray. We have to also be careful because we have to understand something called adiaphora.

09:43

That is issues that are not central issues. The central issues, the atonement, the deity of Christ, the

09:50

Trinity, justification through faith. We have to be willing to, as Christians, be gracious with the disagreements that are adiaphora.

10:00

For example, all Christians believe that Jesus is returning. Amen? Yes. We all believe that there will be a final resurrection, a physical resurrection.

10:11

Amen? Yes. But there are Christians throughout 2 ,000 years of God's kingdom in the world and church history, there are

10:18

Christians who have disagreed on particular areas of timing, the nature of particular things.

10:26

We've disagreed over particular passages and we have to be cautious as believers to make sure that we allow the adiaphora, those side issues, to be just that adiaphora and not things that divide us as the body of Christ.

10:43

Yes, Christians can sometimes be the nastiest crowd of people when it comes to doctrine.

10:51

You've heard of, I think Dr. White created the term, cage -stage Calvinists, right? When somebody finally sees the reformed doctrines coming off the page of Scripture, this is how

11:00

God speaks about salvation, the gift of eternal life, election, grace. All of a sudden, they're like, let's get everybody, right?

11:07

And they go out and we're like, no, no, put you in a cage for a limited period of time. We'll feed you, we'll keep you safe, and we'll let you out and determine about whether we need to put you back in there, right?

11:16

In particular, reformed theology is the truth of God. Amen? Yes? But reformed folks can be sometimes the nastiest crowd of people.

11:26

And you just got to confess to that, because I think theology can often make people prideful. But we need to be careful as believers, even though we may have deep convictions about what the

11:36

Word of God says about something, not to allow that to divide us from other believers in the

11:43

Lord Jesus Christ. We should hash these issues out vigorously, with graciousness and humility and love.

11:50

And we should do it for the long run. But we should not divide over these issues.

11:55

However, it doesn't mean that these are not important matters, because they are.

12:01

Some consequences. If you get this area of eschatology wrong, if you get it wrong, you can get cults, like the

12:09

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

12:15

What's that mean? Last Day Saints. Joseph Smith, you can see in the early history of Mormonism, Joseph Smith predicted the coming of Christ within his generation.

12:26

He said that Christ was going to return within his generation, that people would be alive to see the return of the

12:33

Son of God. Of course, it didn't happen. Joseph Smith's a what? False prophet.

12:39

Deuteronomy 18, 20 through 22. If you have a single false prophecy, you're not from the sovereign

12:45

God. That's it. And that's a standard we have to apply consistently. And even say this, if we truly believe that, then

12:53

Jesus Christ has to also abide by that standard. Amen. Yes. If Jesus Christ gave false prophecies, we can't be inconsistent.

13:01

If he truly gave false prophecies, that would mean he's not the Messiah. So we apply that standard to Joseph Smith.

13:08

Or how about this, the apocalyptic cults, like, for example, another apocalyptic cult of the 19th century is the

13:16

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the Jehovah's Witnesses. You see it even today.

13:22

If you go not far from here, actually, it's at the bus stop by my house. Jehovah's Witnesses are set up there all the time now.

13:28

And now I know I'm excited, very excited to see when they're out there next.

13:35

But also not far from here is a grocery store, and they're always set up inside the grocery store. And you can even see today as you pass by the

13:42

Jehovah's Witnesses, they'll have their awake magazine out. And you'll see even on the covers of those magazines, you'll see things like end times, last days, those sorts of things.

13:55

Last conversation I had with some Jehovah's Witnesses in Kauai at a park, that was the nature of the discussion, the end times discussion.

14:04

So this is vitally important to get. The Jehovah's Witnesses have predicted the return of Jesus Christ, the final coming of Jesus so many times.

14:13

It's surprising that anybody still listens. In the 70s, there was a prophecy about the return of Jesus Christ, and they lost a large portion of their membership as a result of this failed prophecy.

14:27

Eschatology does matter. There are significant things in terms of damage that can be done to people as a result of bad eschatology.

14:37

We could also, through bad Christian eschatologies, end up making Jesus look like a false prophet.

14:44

For example, if we take a passage in Scripture that was related to the generation Jesus was talking to, and it actually demonstrates, highlights the fact that Jesus is, in fact, the promised

14:55

Messiah, that he gave prophecy that was true and sure, and it occurred, if we take prophecies that were actually directed to that first century generation and highlight the glory of Jesus because it happened, and we put those prophecies now as Christians ahead of us, then the atheists of our day and others will say, you're saying that's future to us?

15:19

Right. Well, Jesus said it was for them. So Jesus is a false prophet.

15:24

People use this as an attack on the Christian faith. We're going to get into that. But also bad eschatology can literally destroy families, whole communities.

15:34

Another example of an apocalyptic cult fairly recently in our history is David Koresh.

15:41

David Koresh, everything, if you can see, you can see his sermons actually on YouTube now, you can look up his sermons.

15:48

They are, you'll get bored to tears with them. But you'll see, actually, David Koresh based much of his teaching about the apocalypse and the end of the world and him and who he was and all of those things in the book of Revelation.

16:03

There you go. Pick the most highly symbolic book of the entire Bible and squeeze yourself into the story.

16:10

David Koresh destroyed a lot of people through his false teaching. Another example, you guys, most of you will actually remember this one.

16:18

And this one's funny because Sage, my son, was, let's see, it was 2010, 11.

16:26

Sage was about 10 years old. And I remember when this was happening, Sage would ask me to turn the radio on to listen to family radio because he was so excited to see

16:37

Harold Camping go down. Harold Camping. Sound familiar?

16:43

Do you see the billboards anywhere? The buses, family radio, big, big

16:49

Christian radio station, globally funded this massive movement saying that the rapture was going to occur

16:57

May 21st, 2011, May 21st, 2011, followed by five months of terror in the world.

17:08

And October 21st, 2011 would be the final end of all humanity.

17:13

Mankind, the world, the final judgment. It's 2019.

17:20

Didn't happen. Actually, this is I think I would encourage you to take a look at this. If you didn't get a chance to,

17:25

I was so grateful for Dr. White during that time because he got to engage with Harold Camping and do a radio debate on the subject, and that's available.

17:34

Just go YouTube, Dr. James White, Harold Camping, not two people you usually put together, but you can go listen to that radio debate.

17:43

It was very, very helpful. Now, what happened was May 21st, 2011, of course, came and went.

17:53

And of course, Harold Camping went kind of silent after that. And then after a little bit of time went by, he came out and he told everybody, actually, my calculations were a little bit off.

18:04

And he pointed then to the October 21st, 2011 date as the final end of mankind.

18:09

There was some sort of spiritual event that happened on May 21st. But give me another chance, guys.

18:15

Now, he has since died and faced the one he lied about. But these failed prophecies hurt people.

18:24

There were families, communities based upon the false apocalyptic teachings of Harold Camping that lost their retirement funds, their houses, their property.

18:38

These people were hurt by false prophecy and by bad eschatology.

18:46

So while we have to be very careful, cautious to make sure that the adiaphora, those disagreements over eschatological views do not divide us, we still need to actually have a firm commitment around the essentials and make sure that we still say as believers, this matters.

19:04

It does matter. It matters to God. And what you believe about this next section of Scripture will impact a lot, a lot.

19:13

Eschatology is popular. If you announce that you're going to do a conference on the

19:18

Trinity, the triune God of the Bible, I dare you to get 50 people to show up.

19:25

But if you say we're going to have an end times conference, blood moons and stars falling from the heavens, terror and destruction, fire from heaven, everyone's like, how much are tickets?

19:39

I want to I want to be a part of that one. Right. You fill up the room, the publications, the books, all of those things.

19:46

End times discussions sell. But we need to be grounded as followers of the

19:53

Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be grounded in a proper handling of the Scriptures. We need to be grounded in the area of hermeneutics.

20:03

It's not a man named Herman Udix. Hermeneutics is the art and science of biblical interpretation, proper handling of the word of God.

20:14

When we talk about hermeneutics, we're talking about how to properly handle the word of truth, how to handle the word of God in a way that honors

20:23

God, glorifies him and preserves the truth of his word. So when we talk about hermeneutics, proper handling of Scripture, we're talking about knowing the author.

20:34

Sometimes it's possible. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes we know the author of a particular work and that does help.

20:41

It gives us some background because we know there are other works. We know what they've said elsewhere. We know their worldview, their background, all those things.

20:49

Knowing the author can help. We need to know the audience. Who was this written to? When was this particular work written?

20:58

That can offer a lot of help to us as we're handling the word of God. The historical background of a particular work, knowing the historical background, what sorts of things were happening at the time, what was going on around?

21:10

Why is this language being used? Is it used elsewhere by anybody else in that context?

21:16

How did they use those words? We need to understand the language, knowing the language, getting behind the language itself.

21:24

What does this word actually mean? What's the original wording actually testify to?

21:31

What's it mean? Also, context. When we're interpreting the word of God, context is key.

21:38

Understanding the context, the immediate context, the context within that book, the context within all of Scripture, also a comparison.

21:49

Proper hermeneutics allows us to compare Scripture with Scripture and to let Scripture interpret

21:55

Scripture. Very important for us as we approach Matthew 23 and 24 to make sure that we allow ourselves to let the text speak and not go and impose our own preconceived ideas onto the text.

22:12

Now, I know all of us as believers, we say that's what we have to do. There's those words we know.

22:18

Reform folks really know these words, right? Exegesis and what? Eisegesis.

22:26

Exegesis is where you're drawing out of the text. What is the text actually saying?

22:33

You go to the text and you say, what does it say? Not what do I want it to say? Not what I wish it says, not what

22:40

I think it says. So I'm going to impose it. But go to the text and let the word of God speak, draw out of the text the meaning.

22:49

Eisegesis is where you take ideas and you bring them and put them into the text. You squeeze them into the text.

22:56

We have to be very cautious as we approach these particular areas of Scripture not to engage in eisegesis.

23:03

We have to ask those deep questions. Who's Jesus talking to? What words is he actually using?

23:10

What's the historical context and background of this passage? What are the other scriptures say about this moment?

23:17

Why is it being used in this way? How do we compare this to the other parts of the Gospels? What does the rest of the

23:22

New Testament say? We need to have listen closely. Here's the summary of this point. We need to have the same methods of interpreting passages that deal with eschatology that we do when we are handling things like the

23:40

Trinity, the deity, the Lord Jesus Christ, the atonement, the resurrection, justification by faith.

23:48

In other words, if we are in our areas of interpreting eschatology, now handling the word of God in a different way than we handle all of those other subjects in terms of faithfulness and letting the text tell us, then we're going to be in big trouble.

24:06

We need to go with the same methods that got us doctrines like the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the atonement, the resurrection and justification by faith.

24:15

Now, I want to say at the outset, as we begin to approach this section of the series, my just a quick word here.

24:22

I don't like to put myself in sermons a lot, but just in terms of where I've come from, my own personal history here is that I wasn't raised in the

24:29

Christian church, not by a long shot. And my first had a profession of faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord.

24:38

My very first Bible study, my very first Bible study I had ever attended was in a living room.

24:45

My friend from high school I had met, his dad was a pastor. I went to youth group and the first Bible study

24:52

I walked into and what was playing on the screen was a very, very poorly made 1970s or early 80s film on the

25:02

Great Tribulation. And I sat down and I watched this awful movie.

25:09

Why are Christian movies so bad? I watched this awful movie, but it told a story about a secret rapture and seven years of tribulation and those sorts of things.

25:20

And what I understood then early on as a young man is that this is the view of the Christian church, this is what the

25:26

Bible teaches. I didn't know any different. So when I went to Bible college, the Bible college that I went to taught the same view of eschatology, dispensational premillennialism, the idea of the secret rapture, seven years of tribulation, followed by the kingdom of Christ for a thousand literal years on Earth.

25:45

And I came from a background where I believed that. I've said to you guys, some of you many times before that I was a fiend about eschatology and end time stuff,

25:55

I read Tim LaHaye was my homeboy. Left Behind series,

26:01

I remember, I've said this many times before, one time when I was newly married, I'm surprised

26:06

I still am because of this, but I was reading Left Behind series and I was at the pool by my house and I was reading and I was so excited about it that I was just looking up to the sky and just wishing myself into rapture like now, now, now, now.

26:19

I used to go to Borders Books and Music just to go and buy the Jerusalem Post as often as it came out so I could see what sort of things were happening in Jerusalem because this was the time of the end.

26:31

I was in Bible college sitting with other guys that were in pastoral studies. And I remember being at lunch and having debates with them over how much longer we had before the rapture.

26:41

And I remember that we used to say things like, I don't know, what do you think, like the end of the year? People are like, I don't know, maybe two years, but no more than two.

26:48

And I remember at some point someone, I think, said something like 10 years or 15 years. And we all looked at him and we laughed.

26:55

We laughed. Are you kidding me? Do you know what's happening in Jerusalem? Do you know they got the red hat for you?

27:04

These were our discussions like there's no way 15 more years. That was in 1996, 97.

27:10

So that's where I come from. And I want to just express to you in terms of where this is in my heart, that it was a period of time where I started talking about end time stuff and I started coming over great conviction, the kind of thing that happens to you when you're sinning.

27:25

And as I was talking to friends at Starbucks about end time stuff, I started feeling like I was sinning. I didn't know what that was about.

27:32

So I went home. I remember I was in deep prayer before the Lord and I was wondering why did I feel like I was doing something wrong?

27:38

Why? I'm just saying what I was taught. And so I felt so odd about this moment that I started to actually question, do

27:46

I really know that the Bible teaches this? Do I know this? Did I see it from Scripture or was

27:54

I taught it? And so I committed to actually just read the text, just let it speak.

28:01

And if I was wrong, I was wrong. If I was right, then praise God. And so I committed to reading these particular texts over and over and over again.

28:11

And I came to the conclusion that I couldn't get what I was taught to fit into the text itself.

28:17

It seemed to be saying something entirely different. Now, thankfully, at the time, I learned that many of my great heroes had also seen the same things and many in church history had seen the same things that I was, and I had only been a part of a particular brand of eschatology that, listen closely, did not exist before the 19th century.

28:40

It was a new version of eschatological belief that didn't really exist before that it was popularized in the 19th century.

28:49

And so that was a great learning experience for me as a believer to understand. I need to be faithful when handling the words of God and to test my teachers to make sure that what they're saying is consistent with the words of God.

29:04

There are consequences to handling this section of Scripture in a way that is not faithful.

29:12

Consequences. A couple of examples. Deuteronomy 18, 20 through 22 is that famous passage we just talked about.

29:18

Right. And what's that about? That's one of the tests of a prophet. When we go to the Mormons, we always lay before them.

29:24

There are two tests of a prophet that God gives to us. Right. And Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 13, one through five is a test that even if there are signs and wonders, it looks like it is from God.

29:36

This seems like it has the hands of God all over it. However, if that prophet, dreamer of dreams, if they lead you after another

29:44

God, gods which you have not known, that is how you know they're a false teacher.

29:50

So what God says there is the people of God are supposed to take the words of God, his revelation of himself, his self -disclosure.

29:58

And they're supposed to stand on that revelation as the measuring line to be able to test somebody else.

30:05

If they contradict God's previous revelation, they're not from God. And Deuteronomy 18, 20 through 22 is that powerful testimony to the sovereign

30:17

God that we worship. Don't get lost in this. This is a big one. Only the biblical faith can say this.

30:23

You understand that only the biblical faith, only the true and living

30:28

God can make these kinds of claims. What claim? Deuteronomy 18, 20 through 22, and if you say in your heart, how should we know the words of the

30:40

Lord have not spoken, is the one. And this one over here, it actually says when the prophet speaks and the thing follows not, nor comes to pass.

30:54

That is the word which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.

31:02

Did you hear that? If somebody gives prophecy about the future, they tell you this is going to happen.

31:08

But then it does not happen. That's how you know they're not from the sovereign God. And why?

31:14

Because the all powerful sovereign God declares the end from the what? Beginning.

31:21

He's the one that actually determines the flow and pattern of history. He's the one who governs every molecule.

31:28

He's the one that actually is in control of all things. So God tells his people, if you want to know this person's from me, if they give you prophecy of the future and it fails, that's how you know.

31:42

God knows the future. God determines the future. God wields the future. And so false prophecy is a powerful testimony to whether someone's from God or not.

31:55

Now, this is where this gets interesting. Listen closely. In terms of false prophecy, not rightly handling the word of God.

32:12

This is awkward. Was hey, wait, wait, wait.

32:19

Could you not hear me the whole time? OK, really?

32:25

OK, let's start over. Just kidding. I'm just kidding.

32:35

All right. Next time, say something, be like, OK, I won't be offended unless it's coming from Dr.

32:45

White, then I'll be like, I'm doing something wrong. Deuteronomy 18, 20 to 22, you have false prophecy.

32:53

You're a false prophet. It's a test. We measure Joseph Smith by the Watchtower by David Koresh.

32:59

Go down the line. However, this is important as we approach these texts. Notice this.

33:05

Jesus in the coming texts makes predictions about the future.

33:12

Before a living audience in his day, he gave predictions about the future.

33:18

And if we're going to be consistent as Christians and if we love truth, we want to be consistent. We have to say, yes, this has to match.

33:26

It has to actually work. But we don't want to force it to work or to force ideas into the text.

33:32

We want to let the word of God speak and it to work. Here's some consequences of getting this wrong.

33:39

You know who C .S. Lewis is, right? Chronicles of Narnia, mere

33:44

Christianity, famous author. This is a section from a work he did called The World's Last Night in terms of consequences getting this wrong.

33:54

Here's what he says, what's written. Say what you like. We shall be told the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proven to be false.

34:04

It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the second coming in their own lifetime.

34:10

And worse still, they had a reason and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their master had told them so.

34:18

He shared and indeed created their delusion. He said in so many words, this generation should not pass till all these things be done.

34:27

And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else. It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the

34:35

Bible. Yet how teasing also that within 14 words of it should come the statement.

34:40

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the son, but the father.

34:47

The one exhibition of error and the confession of ignorance grow side by side.

34:56

That they stood thus in the mouth of Jesus himself and were not merely placed thus by the reporter.

35:02

We shall we surely need not doubt. So section from C .S. Lewis, The World's Last Night.

35:08

Another example of mishandling this section of Scripture, giving those kinds of unnecessary doubts and questions is the famous atheist

35:18

Bertrand Russell. In one of his works where he attacks Christ and of course the biblical worldview.

35:25

He of course hangs on this particular point because Christians take

35:30

Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse and place it future to us.

35:36

Atheists are able to examine the text for themselves and say, well, Jesus was talking to that generation.

35:41

He said to them what they would experience. This judgment coming of Christ was going to happen to them.

35:48

So they would say Jesus failed in prophecy. He can't be God in the flesh. He can't be Messiah if he got this wrong.

35:56

Another example, this is actually famous debate. Christopher Hitchens debated

36:02

Douglas Wilson. There's a film called Collision. Encourage you guys to check that out. Actually Dr.

36:08

White was scheduled to debate Christopher Hitchens and then he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. So unfortunately it never happened.

36:14

But in this particular debate if you watch at I believe when they were at Westminster look up Christopher Hitchens, Douglas Wilson, Westminster.

36:22

When they were debating at Westminster there was a section where I believe this is personal. I believe

36:28

Doug was doing such a great job at taking the legs off of Christopher Hitchens that Christopher Hitchens fell on one of his chestnut arguments.

36:36

And that was that Jesus gave false prophecy. And he was referring to the Olivet discourse which is before us here.

36:43

It's the chestnut argument. Christopher Hitchens was in trouble. He throws out Jesus gave false prophecy.

36:51

Now there is a magnificent section there about 60 seconds long where Douglas Wilson responds to that objection entirely takes it away from Christopher Hitchens and demonstrates that Jesus Christ not only did not have a failed prophecy but it happened exactly as he promised.

37:09

And Christopher Hitchens silenced. So is it important?

37:16

It is very very important. Let me give you some words here from Dr. R .C. Sproul who of course is now with the

37:24

Lord that he testified to his whole life. At an eschatology symposium in 1993

37:32

Dr. Sproul said this. Maybe some church fathers made a mistake. Maybe our favorite theologians have made mistakes.

37:40

Now I can abide with that. I can abide with Jesus being a false prophet. Because I can

37:47

I can understand that if Jesus is a false prophet my faith is in vain. Dr.

37:54

Sproul recognized the importance of this section of Scripture and he wrote a book on it called The Last Days According to Jesus.

37:59

I commend that to you guys. I think it's a good work. But let's just do this briefly today. I'm going to try to have a little bit of a shorter sermon today just to give you a little touch today

38:08

I'm going to tell you what I'd encourage you to go and spend some time in to prepare you for what we're going to be doing in the

38:16

Olivet Discourse. Matthew 23 leads into Matthew 24. So I want to point you to what we ought to have beneath us.

38:24

First as we approach this section again today is about foundations. I want to point you to something the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 1.

38:32

Romans chapter 1. Many of you know this. Romans chapter 1 verse 1 it says this Paul a slave of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the

38:48

Holy Scriptures concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God and power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead

38:59

Jesus Christ our Lord. I want to point you to what the Apostle Paul says there at the opening of Romans.

39:06

What's he saying. This apostle set apart for the good news of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the

39:17

Holy Scriptures. Foundational. Foundational. The message of Jesus the story of Jesus that we have in the

39:26

New Testament itself is not a novelty drop down into history.

39:33

It's not a novelty. It's not something that they weren't expecting. There was expectation there were promises.

39:40

There was a covenant made. There was expectation for the people of God. Messiah was coming and there were certain things that were going to happen in their life and in the world as a result of his coming.

39:51

God gave specific specific instances of it will look like this.

39:58

He is going to be like this. This is how he will atone for your sins. All the specifics are there.

40:04

The nature of what the world is going to be like as the Messiah rules over his kingdom. All those details.

40:10

But this is a story again not a novelty in history. It's something that was promised beforehand through his prophets in the

40:19

Holy Scriptures. That's foundational. And you might say Pastor Jeff we know that we understand that.

40:25

But I want to encourage you to consider that principle that God promised beforehand this good news.

40:34

He promised beforehand the story of Jesus. I've mentioned to you guys before that I witnessed once to this

40:44

Jewish girl at the hospital. Devout Jewish family. And she avoided me for a while.

40:52

And finally she was interested and came and talked to me. And I sat down with her in my office and she told me as I was trying to tell her about Jesus and the gospel she told me

41:00

I'm Jewish Pastor Jeff I don't believe in Jesus. So like I don't need to hear any of that.

41:06

And what I told her was I said I'll tell you what I make a commitment to you. I will show you the story of Jesus and I won't touch the

41:13

New Testament. I will just use the Hebrew Bible. And she just laughed like sure.

41:20

I said no let's do that let's commit to do this. We will spend time talking about Jesus and I'm only going to use the

41:26

Old Testament to do it. Sound good? And she was like I dare you.

41:32

After about two weeks time or so she called her mom on the phone from the hospital and she was like mom

41:39

I think I'm starting to believe in Jesus. And her mom was like no we're Jewish honey we don't do that we don't believe in Jesus.

41:46

We're Jewish. And she said well mom I've been spending all my time in the Torah and the Tanakh and in the scriptures and I'm seeing

41:52

Jesus is in our scriptures mom. He's there in our scriptures. Can you give me any one good reason not to believe in Jesus?

42:01

And her mom was silent for like 30 seconds and she said mom can you give me any reason to not believe in Jesus?

42:07

And her mom said no. This story is laid down in God's Old Testament scriptures which means as we approach a section like the

42:16

Olivet Discourse and we hear Jesus saying things like the stars are going to fall from the heavens things being darkened in the sky.

42:25

We hear this language about coming on the clouds. We need to understand this has a particular context from the

42:32

Old Testament. It's language that is maybe unusual to us but it was familiar to those first century

42:38

Jews. We need to not detach ourselves from the Old Testament revelation.

42:44

Next as we approach this section of scripture in terms of foundations after everything I've said.

42:50

Let's talk about the pattern the pattern in the Old Testament.

42:56

And to do this I just want to point you somewhere. Deuteronomy 28. You don't need to go there now. Go there later.

43:02

That is the famous section of the blessings and cursings of the covenant. The people of God are there and these declarations are made over the people of God in terms of what will take place if you violate or break this covenant.

43:18

There is a section where God declares the sanctions of the covenant. This is what's going to happen to you.

43:25

If you violate my covenant. That's Deuteronomy 28. Another example in terms of pattern of the

43:32

Old Testament. We all know the story of the Jews. Right. Sometimes I think we need to humble ourselves because we look at the story of the

43:40

Jews wandering in the wilderness and all that God has done for them. And they're like what's wrong with you people. He's delivered you out of Egypt.

43:47

You get all these signs and miracles and water and blood and firstborn being taken in the Red Sea just crashed behind you and destroyed all your enemies.

43:56

And you're bickering. Not long after that Red Sea crashes down you're at the base of this mountain while God's up there delivering the law and you're dancing around some idol.

44:07

Are you nuts. And then we look at our week last week and all the idols that we served.

44:14

The humility is in order. But in terms of the pattern we know the pattern. The people of God they grow.

44:22

They honor God they obey God. They fall into sin syncretism they adopt pagan practices and idolatry.

44:28

God comes in judges them restores them. We know that pattern throughout the Old Testament right. Obedience blessing disobedience cursing judgment.

44:37

That's a pattern through the Old Testament. As an example I want to point you to something in terms of how God speaks to his people.

44:43

Go to Ezekiel 16. Again these are foundations. And by the way as you get there I want to tell you

44:49

I have a reason I'm pointing you to this passage. There are other examples I can give.

44:55

But there's a reason I'm pointing you to this one. Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16.

45:06

This is how God spoke about his bride. And again watch.

45:13

You'll find out soon enough as to why I'm pointing you to this particular passage. But in terms of understanding the symbolism and how

45:20

God speaks this is important. Ezekiel 16. I'm not going to do the whole section but let's just start in verse 8.

45:29

This is how God speaks about his relationship with his bride. When I pass by you again

45:35

I saw you behold you were at the age for love and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness.

45:43

I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you declares the Lord. And you became mine.

45:48

Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather.

45:58

I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck.

46:08

And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. And then, apparently

46:14

God's a fan of facial piercings. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver and your clothing was a fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth.

46:25

You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty and your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty.

46:34

For it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you declares the

46:40

Lord. Here's how God spoke about his covenant people. I saw you in your mess.

46:47

I brought you. I made you beautiful. I gave you all this jewelry. I beautified you and your renown went out all over the world.

46:56

You are my bride. It's how God talks about his relationship with his covenant people.

47:02

The fine linens and the silk and the crown. You were my wife.

47:09

But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby.

47:18

Your beauty became his. You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines and on them played the whore.

47:26

The like has never been nor ever shall be. You also took the beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver which

47:32

I had given you and made for yourself images of men and with them played the whore. And you took your embroidered garments to cover them and said my oil and my incense before them.

47:43

As you keep reading here. I'd encourage you to do so. Go read it later. You'll see how

47:48

God spoke about his covenant people and they're violating the covenant and turning away from God. God used very harsh language.

47:55

Yes. He called her a whore. A harlot. You are my bride and you went out and you offered yourself to any passerby.

48:06

And even says here in Ezekiel 16 he says you're different though. You're different than others because other people get paid for what they do and you offered yourself to people and you received nothing for it.

48:20

That's how God spoke about his covenant breaking people. And that's the kind of symbolic language that we need to understand from the

48:30

Old Testament before we ever dare trying to understand who the whore of Babylon revelation is.

48:38

Clothed with silk and fine linens with the mother of harlots on her head

48:44

Babylon who is riding a seven headed ten horned beast who is killing the saints who is killing

48:52

Jesus people. And it says of course that beast is about to turn on that harlot and make her desolate and burn her with fire.

48:59

But again if we don't understand how God used that language before we have no right trying to interpret passages from a

49:06

Jewish believer of Jesus who was using that exact language in the book of Revelation.

49:11

Just an example there. So again the pattern of the Old Testament the covenant people breaking covenant with God judgment falling upon them their nation being destroyed scattered at times

49:24

Ezekiel 16 how God spoke about his wife. Next lay this down as foundation the promise the promise number one of the new covenants.

49:33

This is what's before Jesus ministry. We're entering into the Olivet discourse.

49:38

Jesus is the Messiah. He's cursing fig trees he's cleansing the temple. He's condemning the leadership in Jerusalem.

49:46

And we know that behind this story of the gospel of the kingdom is a new covenant. Here are the covenant breakers.

49:53

Here's all the signs of the old covenant still around us. We have a temple. We have a high priest.

49:59

We've got all of these things taking place with sacrifices on the day of atonement or day of atonements.

50:06

We have all these things still happening in Jesus day. And these covenant breaking people are now actually resisting the

50:13

Messiah himself. And we know that as the old covenant stuff is still hanging around there's a new covenant promise with this

50:20

Messiah. It's coming. They're anticipating it. They're waiting for it. The promise that a new covenant

50:27

Jeremiah 31 31 the promise in a new covenant and what God's going to do by his spirit

50:32

Ezekiel 36. He's going to remove a heart of. Give a heart of put his spirit within his people and cause them to observe his statutes.

50:44

There's something new coming. They know it's coming. Messiah is coming. His kingdom is coming. Something new is coming.

50:51

A new covenant not like the one that they broke. God says listen

50:57

Jeremiah 31 even though I was a husband to them it's a new covenant where he will write his law on their inward parts.

51:08

They know that this is coming. It's behind the story of Jesus. Jesus ministry is not a novelty dropped into history as Jesus comes into Jerusalem and is now confronting and condemning them.

51:26

He promises them judgments. He promises things about the temple itself and says there should not be left one stone standing upon another.

51:36

All of this is part of this great story of the Messiah that has already been told to us in the

51:42

Hebrew scriptures. It's already there as a foundation. Next. So first new covenant is promised next judgment and salvation coming with the

51:52

Messiah. Judgment and salvation. I'm just going to point you to the text. Isaiah 65 is an example of what that looks like.

52:01

Judgment and salvation. Another one is Malachi chapters 3 and 4.

52:07

The coming of the Messiah was going to come with salvation and what? Judgment. It's promised that there is going to be atonement and judgment upon the covenant breakers.

52:18

So listen, if you know that, if you know your Hebrew scriptures, you know what

52:24

God has promised with Messiah. You should have been able to stand back as Jesus is having these discussions in Matthew 21 through 24.

52:35

You should have been able to stand back in absolute awe. Right on time.

52:43

Exactly as promised. Exactly as anticipated. Only now the story is becoming fuller.

52:51

Now more details are being given. But the expectation of Messiah is happening all around you.

52:59

It's a powerful testimony. Number three kingdom. A kingdom was promised. They know the

53:05

Messiah's kingdom was coming into the world. Genesis 49 10 Shiloh and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

53:13

Isaiah 9 6 through 7. El Gabor, the mighty God, the father of eternity.

53:20

To him shall be given this kingdom. A kingdom. God's going to do this himself.

53:28

God himself is going to come. God himself is going to come as a child and a son.

53:34

And a kingdom is going to fill the world. Psalm chapter 2. All the kings are to obey him.

53:40

The nations are his inheritance. The ends of the earth his possession. Psalm 72.

53:46

He shall have dominion from sea to sea from the river to the ends of the earth.

53:53

This is expectation. Psalm 110 1. The Lord said unto my

53:59

Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

54:04

I hope you know that one. You know why? It's the most quoted from verse in the New Testament from the

54:10

Old Testament. We say it's God's favorite Bible verse. Another one. And this one I want you to see.

54:16

Foundations. Kingdom of God. Expectation. Jesus is not a novelty.

54:23

The Olivet discourse is expected. I want you to see it with your own eyes. Go to Daniel chapter 7.

54:32

Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 through 14.

54:44

I want you to look at this passage in particular because listen it is used by the

54:50

Lord Jesus in the coming texts. And more importantly.

54:59

This was actually the section Jesus quoted from in his trial. It's what forced them to declare that he had committed blasphemy.

55:11

In Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 through 14. It says I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him.

55:26

And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him.

55:33

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

55:41

Expectation. This is coming. This is coming. So when you see Jesus using that very language you know what he's referring to.

55:51

We have to ask the question though what does it mean to come on clouds of heaven.

55:57

Is that language that's used anywhere else of God in the Old Testament. We're going to find out as we begin to unpack this text not today but in the future.

56:07

Last thing. Old Testament expectation needs to be understood as a foundation before you get to the

56:14

Olivet discourse. But then we need to ask the question what about the immediate context.

56:20

What about the New Testament itself. What does it say about this judgment coming of Jesus. Just a quick review.

56:27

Matthew 3 John the Baptist first words. What. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

56:35

The kingdom of God is at hand synonymous kingdom of heaven kingdom of God the rule of God is at hand.

56:42

And what does he say to the leadership there at the time. He says who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come.

56:50

He says his winnowing fork is in his hand. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees.

56:55

What's that mean. Judgment's coming. Fellas it's coming. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees.

57:03

You're about to be cut down bear fruit in keeping with repentance. That's how Matthew opens up.

57:09

Matthew chapter 3. Judgment is coming. Another example. Matthew chapter 10 verse 23.

57:16

This is that section we unpacked before. I'm not going to do it today. Where Jesus sends his disciples out and he tells them you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the

57:26

Son of Man comes. You will not finish going through the cities or towns of Israel until the

57:33

Son of Man comes. So there is a judgment coming of the

57:38

Son of Man that's going to occur before they even finish going through the towns of Israel.

57:45

There is a judgment expectation within their lifetimes. And it's again in Matthew chapter 16.

57:55

The whole section we were just in of Matthew 21 through 22. Jesus going to Jerusalem.

58:00

They're going to kill me. Jesus comes into Jerusalem. Hosanna. Jesus cleansing the temple as expected as the high priest had to do.

58:09

Jesus cursing a fig tree with only leaves and no fruit. Jesus telling them in the parables what?

58:16

The kingdom of God is going to be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit.

58:23

What's going to happen? What God what's God going to do to the people who kill his son who came to get the fruit?

58:29

What's what's going to happen? He'll destroy those miserable wretches. And Jesus points to them.

58:35

That's right. Or about the parable of the wedding feast. He's going to send his armies to destroy their city.

58:42

All of this judgment coming. It's coming. Jesus is declaring it to them.

58:50

So here's the final words here in terms of questions to ask. Here it is. Who is

58:56

Jesus confronting in Matthew 23? I have five questions here.

59:04

You don't have to answer now. I want us to ask these questions. Who is Jesus confronting in Matthew 23?

59:11

People today. In principle we could. But who is Jesus specifically addressing in Matthew 23?

59:19

Who is Jesus audience in Matthew 24? Who is his audience? Matthew 24.

59:28

What are the time indicators in both Matthew 23 and 24? What are the time indicators?

59:35

Is this something that was expected upon their generation? Is the language used in Matthew 24 used anywhere else in Scripture?

59:43

When we hear about clouds, when we hear about stars falling from the heavens, when we hear about the darkening of the constellations and those sorts of things, is that used anywhere else in the

59:56

Bible? Did it refer to literal stars falling and hitting the earth?

01:00:02

Or was it used in reference to the destruction of nations like Isaiah 13? Finally, what happens when you compare

01:00:11

Mark 13, Luke 21, and Matthew 24? The Synoptic Gospels, the

01:00:16

Olivet Discourse. What happens when you run those side by side? Do you get a fuller understanding of what's taking place?

01:00:24

Do you get a fuller understanding of whether it was a localized judgment or the end of the world?

01:00:31

Next, what is the consistent message of the New Testament concerning the judgment coming of Christ? Not the resurrection of the dead.

01:00:38

Not this second coming of Christ, but this judgment coming of Christ. Was it anticipated throughout the

01:00:44

New Testament? I hope to show you that it certainly was. Now here's what I like to accomplish in doing this.

01:00:51

Please hear me. What I hope to accomplish as we run through Matthew 23 and 24 and we unpack it.

01:00:58

I hope to be faithful as a minister of the gospel, faithful in unpacking the words of the living

01:01:04

God. But I also hope to teach us that we must faithfully handle

01:01:10

God's word always. I hope to teach us that bad eschatology has consequences.

01:01:19

Cults, apocalyptic cults, families and lives destroyed as a result of bad eschatology.

01:01:27

And here's what I think most important to me. And this is what I want you to hear. I hope to show us that Jesus truly is the

01:01:35

Messiah. Truly. He truly is the Messiah. Because when you read the

01:01:43

Olivet Discourse and you let the text speak. When you read the

01:01:49

Olivet Discourse in the light of what God has promised to come. Then what it demonstrates is that God keeps his word.

01:01:59

It is sure. It is guaranteed. It is true. It creates in us a godly fear, a reverence for God and for his word that he keeps his promises.

01:02:12

When he says something, it is true. It is full assurance. You can count on it.

01:02:19

There is no question ever. God keeps his word when you can see. And I hope to demonstrate it to you through a faithful handling of God's word that the

01:02:28

Olivet Discourse happened exactly as Jesus predicted it. Then it demonstrates something about Jesus' character.

01:02:36

He is the Holy One of Israel. He is God in the flesh. He knows the future.

01:02:42

And his promises can be trusted. This is where, watch, this goes from,

01:02:49

OK, unpack the text to application. Here's what I want you to get from this study as we do it. Not to create a bunch of people who are obsessed about end times and eschatology, but to faithfully handle

01:03:01

God's word, to demonstrate that he is in fact the promised Messiah, that he keeps his promises.

01:03:07

His character can be trusted. And when God says in the Olivet Discourse that something is going to happen and that it happens exactly on time, it means that you and I as his children can listen to his other promises about salvation and know that he keeps his word.

01:03:29

Even on your bad days, even on the days where you feel far from God. Moms, on the discouraging days where it feels like everything's falling apart.

01:03:39

He's as faithful to you in the midst of that as he's always been and always will be. It's not your faithfulness that determines his faithfulness.

01:03:48

He is doing something in history to bring glory to himself. And he's brought us into that story with him.

01:03:56

When he promises to save, he saves perfectly. When he promises to never leave you, you can be assured of that because here's an example of him keeping his promises once again.

01:04:10

When he promises to care for all your needs, you can trust him.

01:04:19

You see, my hope is not to approach this subject of eschatology and end times to create people who are fanatical about eschatology.

01:04:29

My hope as a minister of the gospel is to point you to the fact that Jesus kept his promise.

01:04:37

And that we ought to all fall before him with reverence, godly fear, because he is the one who is seated on his throne.

01:04:47

He is that king that was promised. He is ruling over the world today.

01:04:52

And he keeps all of his promises to you and to me. He can be trusted.

01:04:59

That's my hope as we approach these texts is that we can see that he is the one who was promised.

01:05:05

And my hope is that creates a boldness in you and I to go out and to testify to the world about this great king and to call them to faith in him.

01:05:14

Let's pray. Lord, I pray that as we've talked today about laying foundations, that we would meditate on these things, think about them, and that,

01:05:27

Lord, as we approach the Olivet Discourse, we would gain understanding, not just of this little section.

01:05:36

I pray that we gain understanding, a better understanding of your whole story, the words that you had promised long before.

01:05:44

I do ask that you please help me, Lord, to be faithful as a pastor. So, Lord, handle your words carefully and to apply them in a way that blesses, encourages, and equips your people.

01:05:59

I do pray that, Lord, at the end of this section, that our reverence for you, our awe before you will increase and our love for Jesus will increase.

01:06:13

I do also pray for boldness. After we finish this section, that you would create within us a boldness about you and your word.