Matthew 24:1-14; Matthew 24:32-34 | Signs of the End Times | Partial Preterist | Eschatology

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church on Matthew 24 and the New Covenant

If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Matthew 24. Matthew 24, we're going to look at verses 32 through 34. Matthew 24, 32 to 34. Please pray with me. Our God and Father, we love you and we thank you and we come to you.

We gather together to meet with you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, fill us with your spirit. Feed us, I pray. Feed your people despite my ignorance, Lord. Use me in this moment. Hide me behind your word and let me speak forth the magnificent works of your hand.

For you have brought life and immortality to light through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, help me to paint for them this picture that you have set before us in such a way that they'll leave here with understanding.

We love you.

Amen. So, I want you to imagine, if you will, that I gave you a house. I gave you a house. But the conditions of you staying in the house is that you have to pay me $700 a month. The house is yours. It's yours.

But in order to stay in this house, I need $700 a month. If you don't pay me the $700 a month, you have to leave. I will remove you from the house. That's gracious. I mean, I gave you a house, but the condition for you to stay in the house is you have to pay me money.

Maybe I want to be a little more gracious. Let's say I give you a house and the condition for you to stay in the house is $700, but I also give you the $700 to pay your bills. So I give you the house, I give a condition, and I provide the condition.

Now is that grace? What I just described to you is an analogy set before the old and new covenants. God gave the people of Israel a piece of land, the land of Canaan. He gave them the land of Canaan, but he said to them, here's the condition.

I want fruit. I want the fruit of the land. Here's stuff that you have to do. Keep this. So the fruit here, as we've looked, is obedience. Keep this and live in the land. Don't keep this and I am going to remove you from the land.

That's the old covenant.

He gave them the land of Canaan, but in order to stay in the land of Canaan, they had to keep his commands. They had to produce fruit. New covenant. God gave us eternal life. The meek shall inherit the what?

The land of Canaan?

No, the world.

The meek shall inherit the world. Here's his conditions. Faith and repentance. Faith and repentance. In order to stay in this land, this earth, to have eternal life, you must have faith and repent. Turn from your sins.

He gives the conditions, but then he provides the conditions. Faith is the gift of God. You're saved by grace through faith. This is not of yourself, it is the gift of God. It's not of worse, so no one can boast.

And he grants to those who have faith, repentance. Those who have faith, what do they do? Repent. Are we, in and of ourselves, conjuring this faith?

No.

Are we, in and of ourselves, conjuring this repentance? No. It's a gift. Those who are truly in Christ do these things. And it's not of yourself, it's the gift of God.

Grace.

You're saved by grace, through faith, and that's a gift. Through repentance, that's granted to you, if you have faith, you're granted repentance. Old Covenant, keep this and live. New Covenant, believe in Christ and live.

And I'm going to give you what you need to believe. Ladies and gentlemen, the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. What Christ has come to deliver to us, red, yellow, black, or white, is better than the Old Covenant.

Our theme for this Lord's Day is, learn a lesson from the fig tree. We kind of looked over this a couple times a week, a few weeks ago, but for the next couple of weeks, we're really going to dig into it.

Learn a lesson, it might be a long couple of weeks, learn a lesson from the fig tree. My proposition is this, by understanding what Jesus meant by this generation, we can put a time stamp on the prophesied events in Matthew 24.

So if we, with our minds, can clearly grasp, can clearly understand what it is that Jesus has for us here, we can understand prophecy.

We don't have to wonder.

If we can get this down, if I'm correctly interpreting and articulating this, we as a church can understand prophecy. If you do not understand the meaning of the text, the true meaning of the text, there is no application of the text.

Now, of course, I can make an application, but is it the application? If you don't understand the true meaning, there is no application, not in a real sense. So that's what I intend to try to do with the power of the Holy Spirit.

I pose this question each time, why should you and I care about the subject of eschatology? My answer today is this, in order for you and I to have a biblical understanding and a biblical interpretation of the Bible, we must first have a biblical Christology, a biblical ecclesiology, and a biblical eschatology.

We have to have a biblical doctrine of Christ, a biblical doctrine of the church, and a biblical doctrine of end times, last things.

Would y 'all agree?

Please read with me. Matthew 24, verses 32 through 34. From the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and it puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see all these things, you know that He is near at the very gates.

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Now I'm going to read it one more time, but I'm going to elaborate as I do.

It says, learn a lesson from the fig tree. Okay, so the antecedent to this fig tree is found in chapter 21. Jesus sees a fig tree by wayside. He's hungry. He goes to it hoping to find fruit. There is no fruit.

There is only leaves.

What does He do?

He curses the fig tree. Learn a lesson from the fig tree. And it says, as soon as its branches becomes tender, it puts out its leaves, and you know that summer is near. He's saying that this time, this event is near.

Also when you, who is He speaking to? Go to verse 1. Jesus left the temple, going away, when His disciples come and ask Him questions. So He is speaking directly to His disciples. So to His disciples, He says, when you see all these things, all these things is from verse 3, well from verse 4 to verse 31.

So everything, when He says all these things, He's speaking verse 4 to 31. You know that He, that He here is Jesus, is near at the very gates. Truly I say to you, the disciples, this generation, the near demonstrative, the people that He is speaking to, this generation, not 2 ,000 years in the future generation, when you see these things, I say to you, this generation, the generation of the disciples, will not pass away until all these things take place.

Listen to this part, it says, heaven and earth will pass away. At this time, you know what heaven and earth was considered? The Jewish temple. The temple is where heaven met with earth. This is where God's presence dwelled in the holy of holies.

God was in the holy of holies. Back when I was the old Pentecostal boy, it was the Shekinah of Glory, right? And every time we'd say it, we'd do the Pentecostal two-step. The Shekinah of Glory, the Spirit of God dwelling in the temple.

That God tabernacled in a tent. That God tabernacled in a temple. God now tabernacles in his people. So when he says that heaven and earth will pass away, it's speaking of that temple is going to pass away.

But my words will not pass away. This temple is going to be destroyed. But what I have to say, it's not going to be destroyed. Our outline for this week, we will seek to understand the lessons from the fig tree.

I believe this fig tree parable gives us three lessons. Signs of the end of the age, Matthew 24, 4 -14. The abomination of desolation, Matthew 24, 15 -28. Number three, the coming of the Son of Man, Matthew 24, 29 -31.

Now we will only be looking at one of these main points today. The signs of the end of the age. So we're not going to go through all this, this whole chapter, it's just no way. I wouldn't do it any justice.

And as we transition, I want to say that all of Matthew 24 is a response by Jesus to his disciples for their question that they asked in verse three. Look at verse three of chapter 24. As he, speaking of Jesus, said on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and.

Of the end of the age?

So right here where it says the end of the age. So does anyone have a KJV in here? Does anyone have a new King James or King James version? Anybody have a King James? So right here, if this was a King, if I was reading from a King James Bible, instead of it saying the end of the age, or if you have anything outside of the ESV, what does it.

Say there?

The end of the age. Mine says the end of the age. Verse three, the last part of verse three, the last few words, the end of the what? The end of the age. That's the NASB. The King, you got King James, what does it say?

End of the world.

End of the world.

The Greek word here that's used for world is aeon. Aeon. What's the Greek word for world? Cosmo. So when you're speaking of the earth, it's not aeon. It's cosmo. Aeon means age or ages. The end of the age.

So they're wanting to know, when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? So what made them ask this question? Verses one and two. Here we have Jesus leaving the temple.

In the Old Testament, we have Yahweh leaving the temple. New Testament, we have Jesus leaving the temple and as he was going away, his disciples came and pointed out to him the buildings of the temple.

But he answered them, you see all these things, do you not? Truly I say to you, speaking of the disciples, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. So they said, well, when will these things be?

What will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? Now notice they asked him, what will be the sign of your coming? He's already in their presence. He's already standing before them. So this coming, the word coming here, the Greek word parousia, when are you going to, when is your presence coming?

But notice his physical body is already with him. Something really neat to point out. They said, when is this temple going to be destroyed? And so what we have here is one question said in three different ways.

We have one question spoken in three different ways. When will these things be? Speaking of the destruction of the temple, what will be the sign of your coming? Because that's going to happen at the destruction of the temple and the end of the age, which will be the destruction of the temple.

Turn with me to Hebrews. I alluded to this last week, I believe it was Hebrews chapter nine, Hebrews chapter nine, verse six, I believe is my starting point. Hebrews chapter nine, beginning in verse six.

These preparations having thus been made, this is speaking of the temple, the priests go regularly into the first section. The first section is the holy place to perform their ritual duties. But into the second, which is the holy of holies, only the high priest goes, and he, but once a year, this would be whenever they slaughter the lamb, the day of atonement, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.

By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy place is not yet open as long as the first section still stands, which is symbolic for the present age, for the present.

Age.

He says, when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? The destruction of the temple. He's pointing back and he just told them that the temple is going to be thrown down, stones are going to be removed.

Are you following me so far? So ultimately, what I believe is that these three lessons are going to be pointing us to one single event, and that is the end of the old covenant age. The end of, here's you a house, but you have to give me $700 a month.

Here's you a piece of land, the land of Canaan, Israel, Palestine, whatever you want to call.

It.

I have no beef with any of them, but in order to stay there, you have to keep these rules. And so I believe that this is going to be mostly focused in dealing with the old covenant, the old covenant, the end of the age.

Now to our first point, which will be our only main point today, signs of the end of the age, Matthew 24, four through 14, verses four through 14. And Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

But all these are the beginning of the birth pains. Then you will be delivered up to tribulation and be put to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my namesake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray, and because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

In this text, I have six sub-points that surround the end, and we'll move through these fairly quickly. The first is the preaching of a different Jesus. Second, rumors of rebellion, famine, and earthquakes.

The third, the persecution of the disciples. Fourth, the preaching of a false gospel. Number five, lawlessness will increase. And number six, the gospel proclaimed to the whole world.

Now listen to me.

The only way that you should believe anything that I say to you right now is if I can show you from Scripture, okay? Don't believe anything that I say if I cannot show you from Scripture. What I'm going to be attempting to be doing is called Scripture interpreting Scripture.

How should we interpret Scripture? By using Scripture. So if what I say to you today is not found in the Bible, don't listen to it. Do not listen to it. My first sub-point is the preaching of a different Jesus.

Matthew 24, 4 through 5. And Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray. Well the Bible doesn't point us to people claiming to be Jesus or claiming to be Christ.

But it does point us to people teaching a false Jesus, a false Christ. That's what it does point us to. And so that's what I want to look at real quick. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2, I'm going to read, and if you have never heard this, your mind is going.

To be blown.

Chapter 2, beginning in verse 18. Pay attention to the antecedents. Children, it is the last hour. Is that 2 ,000 years from then? Last hour. Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come.

Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they are not of us.

But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you have all knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because there is no lie in the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?

Listen, this is the Antichrist. He who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Now I'm just going to go through here and show you something that you might have missed.

So right here we have children versus Antichrist. Those are your two antecedents, okay? Children, Christians. Antichrist, not Christians, okay? It says, children, Christians, this is the last hour, and as you have heard, that Antichrist is coming.

So now, many Antichrists have come, therefore it is the last hour. Right here it says, they, what's the antecedent to the they? They went out from us, Antichrist. Now a lot of people, a lot of Reformed people, when someone leaves the church, they leave the faith, you know what they do?

They quote this, they say, well, they went out from us because they were not of us, because if they had been of us, then they would have remained of us. That's not what this means. That's, stop it.

Stop it.

That's not what this is talking about. This is covenantal. They went out from us because they were not of us. If they, the Antichrist, were of us, they would be with us. This is covenantal. This has nothing to do with people saying that they, people that prayed some silly prayer when they walked in the house, shook a hand, and signed a card, and decided that they didn't believe.

Nothing to do with it. This is covenantal. John says that they went out from us because they were not of us, for if they would have been of us and they would have continued, they would remain with us.

He says, but they went out to show that they were not of us. Now notice this, it says, but you have been anointed, and you have been given all, and you have all knowledge. It's basically saying, and the Greek is saying, knowledge has come to you.

Knowledge has come to you. He says, I write to you because you, I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it. And because there is no lie in truth. Now here's where the rubber meets the road, but who is the liar but he who denies that.

Jesus is the Christ?

This is the Antichrist. Listen, at this time, who denied that Jesus was the Christ? The religious Jews. The religious Jews. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, who crucified him outside of the city. They said, he's not the Christ.

He's not from God. He's from Beelzebub. Ain't that what it says, Matthew chapter 12? They accuse him for working with the devil. This is covenantal. They, Jesus comes in the fullness of time to bring about the new covenant.

He gave them a tutor. He gave them a guardian, the law, the old covenant that they were to be under until the fullness of time. And when they come of age, they were to leave the guardian and cling to the son.

Fullness of time came. Instead of clinging to the son, they danced around the law as if it was a goading calf. So when it says that they went out from us, it's speaking of them rejecting Christ, rejecting the new covenant.

And why did they do that? Because they were not of us. If they were, they would be here right now following with us. The religious Jews. An antichrist is someone, in this verse right here, who denies that Jesus is the Christ.

Now turn to 2 John 7. 2 John 7. It gives you a different definition of an antichrist. It says, Listen to this. And the antichrist. So 2 John tells us that an antichrist is someone who denies, who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

This would be what's called early Gnosticism. There was a Jewish man at this time.

Please Google it.

By the name of Serinthus. C-E-R-I-N-T-H-U-S. Serinthus' interpretation of Jesus was this. So the Bible gives you two biblical definitions of the antichrist. It's those who deny that Jesus is the Christ, and those who deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.

Did you hear me read anything about a future political leader.

That would rise up and rule the world?

This is the only place that describes the antichrist. It's nowhere else. It's nowhere else.

This is it.

This is the definition. It's covenantal. It's covenantal. They were preaching a different Christ. That's not the Jesus we worship.

Hallelujah.

As we transition, the religious Jews at this time and Serinthus both were teaching another Christ. So point number two, real quick. Rumors of war. I mean, rumors of rebellion, famines, and earthquakes.

Matthew 24, 6 through 8. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place. But the end, what end? The end of the age is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

All these are the beginning of the birth pains. All right, so y 'all remember Daniel chapter 9, right? I walked through it a few weeks ago. Chapter 9, verse 26 says this. And after the 62 weeks, so you got to go back to verse 25 to see that the 62 has an added week, which is seven weeks.

So it's actually 69 weeks. So after the 62, 69 weeks, an anointed one shall come. This anointed one is Jesus. He shall be cut off and have nothing. And the people of the prince, the prince is Jesus, so the people of the prince is the same people that is of Daniel.

This is the Jews. The people of the prince, the Jews, who shall come, will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come with a flood, and to the end there will be war, desolation is decreed. So what this is speaking about is the Jewish revolt that started in 66 A .D., the Jewish revolt that started in 66 A .D.

So when he says that there will be wars and rumors of wars, we say, well, there's always war and rumors of wars, but not at that time. They were under the Roman peace. Rome, who had taken over the known world, had sent governors into each part of that section to govern them with soldiers, so they ruled over them with armed forces to keep the nations from warring against each other.

And so if there was a rumor of a war at that time, it would have really meant something. Not so much to us today, because there's always, for us today, there's always wars and rumors of wars. But at this time, this would have really meant something.

At this time, the Jews were looking for their Messiah, and they believed that their Messiah would come and that He would rescue them from the hands of Rome. So when Jesus came, they were expecting a David, they were expecting some man to take the throne who would rule and reign and who would, with a sword, destroy Rome.

And that did not happen. And so they themselves started a revolt, and they rebelled, and they fought against Rome. You say, well, what about famines and earthquakes? Is that in the Bible? Acts 11, verse 27.

Acts 11, verse 27. So you know that Acts, this is after Jesus has already, death, burial, resurrection, He ascended to the Father, He's in heaven, He's ruling and reigning. Verse 27. Now in those days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them, named Agabus, stood and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine all over the world.

And this took place in the days of Claudius. Right here where it says all over the world, the Greek word there is not cosmos, it's oikomene. It's not aeon, it's oikomene. What's oikomene?

The known world.

The world that Rome had inhabited. The nations that Rome had took over. A small piece of land. It could be by the Mediterranean Sea, Canaan. And a famine was going to be all over Rome. Oikomene. That's why it's good to, when you come to something like this and you're studying, to break out the Greek.

To understand what it's saying. Okay, you say, okay, okay, you proved famines. That a famine took place that was all over the world, like Matthew 24 says. What about earthquakes? Were there earthquakes?

Yes, they were. Matthew 27.

I'll give you two.

I could give you more, but time-wise, I'll give you two. Matthew 27, verse 50. So this would have been. Jesus is being crucified. He's nailed hands and feet to a Roman cross. Verse 50. And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and he yielded up his spirit.

And behold, the curtain from the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rock split. Chapter 28, verses 1 and 2. So this would have been his resurrection. After the Sabbath, now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb, and behold, there was a great earthquake.

For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and he came and rode back the stone, and he sat on it. So right there, it's two earthquakes after the prophecy. There's more in here that talks about it.

Go through the book of Acts.

You see it everywhere.

Now, what are the birth pains? So when it says that these are the beginning of the birth pains, what are the birth pains? Wars, famines, and earthquakes. Wars, famines, and earthquakes are the birth pains.

Subpoint number three, the persecution of the disciples. Matthew 24, 9 through 10. Then they will deliver you, speaking to the disciples, up to tribulation. They will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.

And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. All right, look back with me real quick to chapter 23, verse 34. This is Jesus speaking to the Pharisees. He says, Therefore I will send you prophets and wise men and scribes.

Some of them you will kill and crucify. Some of them you will flog in the synagogues and persecute from town to town. So when he's speaking to you, he's speaking to his disciples, those that follow him.

Now, who's going to be putting them to death? The religious Jews, the antichrists of that time. Are you following me? Is this making sense? It's all covenantal. In the book of Acts alone, we see Peter, James, and Stephen, and Paul.

We see Peter gets persecuted. Peter and James both get arrested. They're persecuted. They're beaten for preaching in the name of Jesus. Stephen gets stoned. Paul, as known as Saul, hoes the coats for those who are stoning him.

Paul then gets knocked off his high horse, struck with blindness. Then Christ appears to him, and Christ sends Ananias to give Paul his sight back. But Jesus says this about Paul. He says about Paul, for I will show him, speaking of Paul, how much he must suffer for my namesake.

Who is he speaking about? Me?

No, he's speaking about Paul.

Paul must suffer for his namesake. In transitioning, according to Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Andrew was crucified, Bartholomew beaten then crucified, James, the son of Alphaeus, stoned to death. James, the son of Zebedee, was beheaded.

John was exiled for his faith. Judas, not Iscariot, was stoned to death. Matthew was ripped apart. He was ripped apart. Peter was crucified upside down. Philip was crucified. Simon was crucified. Thomas also was ripped apart.

Like, how did he die? Oh, he was ripped apart.

He was ripped apart.

Mattis was stoned to death. He says, man, they are going to,.

You're going to be taken before governors, you're going to be taken before the council,.

And you're going to be hated by all nations for my namesake. He was speaking to the near demonstrator. The you here was not me. Now, could we make application? Yes, yes. But in order to make that application, we must understand that it wasn't personally for me.

It was to his hearers in that generation. When it speaks about the fallen away here, I want to come back to that in verse 13. Subpoint number four, the preaching of a false gospel. Matthew 24, 11. Matthew 24, 11.

And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. We see that in Galatians 1, 6, right? We have the Judaizers come to the Galatians. What were they preaching? Circumcision. Keep this law and live.

What was that law? The old covenant law. Circumcision. Keep this and live. Live where? In the land. What land? The land of Palestine. They were preaching the old covenant gospel. They were bringing the old covenant into the new covenant.

They were bringing the old covenant into the new covenant. What did Paul say? If I or an angel preaches to you something other than the gospel, the new covenant gospel, let him be cursed. Let him be cut off from Christ.

As a matter of fact, if a man comes to you, if you're the one preaching this gospel, I hope you emasculate yourself. I hope you make yourself into a woman where you do not have authority to speak. Oh, for us men today to have that kind of boldness to speak up against false gospels.

The Judaizers were preaching a false gospel. What did they do? They just added something to it. They added something from the old to the new. And Paul said, man, they're a false gospel. That's a false gospel.

You are anathema. You're cut off from the covenant. Serious. Subpoint number five. The lawlessness will increase. Matthew 24, 12 through 13. And because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.

But he who endures to the end will be saved. Now what is lawlessness? 1 John 3, 4 gives you a biblical answer. Everyone who practices sinning also practices lawlessness. Lawlessness is sin. Sin is lawlessness.

Right?

The preaching... So what is lawlessness? You remember the birth pains were what?

What were the birth pains?

Remember I told you?

What were the birth pains?

Wars, famines, and earthquakes. What is lawlessness? Preaching another Christ. The persecution of Christians and false prophets being allowed in our churches. The churches were allowing the Judaizers to come and preach that false gospel.

Because the lawlessness is increasing. The love of many will grow cold. The love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved. Is this speaking of salvific? He who endures to the end will be saved?

Is that speaking to us? That we have to endure to be saved? No, remember at the very beginning the new covenant. He has given us eternal life. In Jesus Christ, what we have to do is put our faith in Him and repent.

And He gives us that ability. What does it mean we have to endure to the end? Well, He's not talking about us and this is not salvific. The end here is speaking to the antecedent which is the end of the age.

The temple falling. And next week we'll show you how He endured. There's one way of escape. He gives them the way to escape it. This is not hard. What's up point number six? The gospel proclaimed in all the world.

Now right here is where people are going to say there's no way that the gospel of the kingdom has been proclaimed throughout the whole world in the testimony to all nations. The book of Luke does not mention this portion.

It's also found in the gospel of Mark but it doesn't say to the whole world. It just says to all nations. So not only... How can I say this? Not only has this already... Remember earlier I said the only way that you should believe me is if I can show you from scripture.

So not only should the scripture say this but in fact it does. The scriptures clearly teach that the gospel went out to the whole world to all nations. Simply because the word here for the whole world is not cosmos, cosmo.