Wednesday, January 31, 2024 PM

All right, let's pray before we get into the Word of God. We thank you for this evening that you've given us. We thank you for your Word that we can study and know you. Lord, we pray that as we seek to know you more, that the Holy Spirit would be with us and illuminate the Word and we ask that it would all drive us to know you more, to be transformed into your image because of your love for us, because of what you have done in history, because what you are doing in history, which is in the lives of your people, which is in the world that you made, you are so involved in every detail and we thank you for that.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. A few weeks ago we talked about kind of the role of the state and the church. We talked about a bill that's being discussed and often in those types of discussions someone might bring up, well that's politics, that's a separate thing.

That's not the church's jurisdiction, separation of church and state, but the Bible tells us that there are different roles and God created the civil government, it's instituted by God and the family was instituted by God, the church was instituted by God.

But there is a prevailing mindset within Christendom, particularly in America, that any attempt to stand for righteousness outside of the church walls or outside of your family is a doomed attempt, that this world is doomed, it's all going to get worse, things are getting bad and so getting involved in such endeavors are kind of pointless.

So I kind of wanted to frame the problem by going through a few verses. In Matthew 24 verse 3 it says this, and this is speaking about Jesus, So the disciples are asking him a question and it seems pretty doomed, there's the end of something.

In 1st John chapter 2, 15 and 16, it says,. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world, verse 17, and the world is passing away and the lust of it.

And so we have this idea that something is coming to an end and that's the end of it, it's passing away. To further add to this, the disciples are following in the footsteps of Jesus. Jesus has taught them that there's a period coming that is going to be very dark, that is going to be very difficult.

Some of them may even lose their lives and their hope is in the future. And so we have, let me read these verses for you as well, 1st John chapter 2, 25 and 26, and this is the promise, that he has promised to us eternal life.

These things I have written to you concerning those who would try to deceive you. And so there's this idea of eternal life in the future. In 2nd Timothy 2, 17, and their message will spread like cancer.

Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past and they overthrow the faith of some. So there's a concern about the resurrection, the concern about eternal life, things in the future.

Philippians 3, 11 and 12, this is Paul speaking from prison, he's writing to the Philippians, he's facing suffering and he says this, If by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead, not that I have already attained it or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay a hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me.

What a blessing that we have in these promises of the future resurrection, the resurrection from the dead, at the end of all things we are promised eternal life. And so we have this talk about the end of something, maybe the end of the world, and then we have this talk about eternal life.

So if the world is coming to an end and our lives are about to end, we have this future hope. But there's more happening here in these verses and so I'd like to get into some of the context there. The first verse that I read in Matthew, where the disciples are coming to him, they're asking him a very specific question.

So if you look at it in the King James, which is what I read, they ask him, Does anyone's translation say something different? It's Matthew 24 and this is verse 3. It says age, right? The Greek word here is aeon, which means a period of time.

So they're asking, Now this isn't a question that's just coming out of the blue. He just talked about the destruction of the temple. And so why are they tying the destruction of the temple to the end of an age?

Because they know they're Old Testaments. And not only is it prophesied in the Old Testament, Jesus has been talking about this in his ministry. He's been talking about the end of the age. And so if we look here, look at these straight lines.

They're so pretty. We can thank Ryan for that because I did not draw these straight lines. So from creation, the timeline here, creation, all the way to here, this would be the end of time. This would be the very end.

So over here we have creation. Here, I drew a star to signify the birth, the birth of Jesus and the star. We have a time period from Jesus' birth to 70 AD and the cross in the middle, or towards the end of this period.

This is the crucifixion, the death of Jesus. We're going to be talking about this period, this period in the middle where there's an overlap, and then this period. What is going on in these passages? So if you would turn in your Bibles, hold your place at Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew chapter 13. So this concept here, as I read, the disciples are asking about age. What is the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Now, they're talking about something very specific, but this word age can be used in several different ways.

So one way in which the word age can be used, we would say that it's the Old Covenant age and the New Covenant age. It's a long period of time, the Old Covenant age and the New Covenant age. In the Old Covenant age, we would think of things like the Abrahamic covenant, the covenant that God made with Abraham and to his seed.

So I'm going to use red. So we've got Abraham and his seed, which is fulfilled in Jesus, right? So we've got the Abrahamic covenant. Following that, we have the Mosaic covenant, and this would be the adding of the law.

And the Bible says that the law was added because of transgressions and it was temporary. It was until the seed, until faith should appear. So after Abraham, a little bit later, we have the Mosaic covenant.

And it also is fulfilled in Jesus because Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant law. Now within that covenant, we have another covenant, the Davidic covenant. God made a covenant with David, and it was to David that there would always be a king on his throne and that it would be an everlasting kingdom.

So this is within that covenant. David is within Israel, and so he is under the Mosaic covenant, but it's a little bit later. And so we have the Davidic covenant, and it also is fulfilled in Jesus because Jesus is that king that the Davidic covenant is talking about.

So all of those covenants are wrapped up and are fulfilled in Jesus. So we have something happening here. We have an Old Covenant age that is coming to an end. The king has entered the world, the Davidic covenant.

That king is the fulfillment of the law, the Mosaic covenant. That king who fulfills the law is the seed that was promised to Abraham. So those promises are being fulfilled in the life of Jesus. Those promises are ending in Jesus.

Now we have an overlap between when Jesus was born and what he accomplishes. And so we'll get into that. Again, holding your place in Matthew 13, I want to talk about the way in which ages are used. So the first age would be Old Covenant age, New Covenant age.

2 Corinthians 4, verse 4. It says, Whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. So he talks about the God of this age in reference to Satan.

Well, we know now that Satan is no longer the God of this age. That Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. That he is God of God. He's the man now, not Satan. Another usage in this sense would be Matthew 24, 3.

The disciples are asking, tell us what will be the sign of your coming and the end of this age. And we know it's specifically talking about the Old Covenant age because he's having the discussion about the destruction of the temple.

You're saying the temple is going to be destroyed. When is that going to happen? Because that will be the end of the Old Covenant age. Now remember, Jesus is born here. The destruction of the temple doesn't happen until 70 AD.

And that's what the disciples are asking about. When is the end of this age, the Old Covenant age, going to happen? Now another sense in which the age can be used is our time here on earth versus the eternal state, the future state.

So if you look at Matthew 12, 32. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him either in this age or the age to come.

Another reference would be Luke 18, 29 -30. So he said to them, Assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who shall not receive many times more in this present time and in the age to come, eternal life.

So he's making a distinction between two ages. This current age that they were living in because he's talking about them living their lives. And if they lose things here on earth while they're living, they will gain.

But even more than that, in the second age, the age to come, eternal life. So he's talking about their lifespan as one age and the future age, the eternal life. Now there's another sense in which the word age is used and we'll get to that in a little bit.

The reason why this word is so useful is because it's talking about a time period. So the context provides what time period is this person talking about? With the disciples, it's easy. Destruction of the temple, all right.

Let's take all the Old Testament promises. We know the temple's going to be destroyed. So that's the ending of that age. And then again, the context here, the lives that we live is a period of time. And then after the lives that we live, forever, another period of time, the eternal state.

So we'll get into the third usage here in a minute. But I'd like to talk about what does this have to do with the kingdom? Because here it talks about in our lives as we're living, when we lose things for the sake of the kingdom, it'll be added to us.

And then in the age to come, eternal life. And so I want to talk about seed time and harvest time. Seed time and harvest time. And I'm going to go through several passages and then I want to wrap this up in Matthew 13.

In Genesis 8 .22, this is the very beginning. It says, while the earth remains, seed time and harvest time, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. Okay, shall not cease. In Jeremiah 33, in talking about the covenant, he says this, if you can break my covenant with the day, my covenant with the night, so that there will be not day or night in their season, then my covenant may also be broken with David.

So Jesus, or in Jeremiah, the Davidic covenant of an eternal king is tied to creation. He says, if you can break the covenant that I have with the moon and the stars and the sun and the seasons, then you can break my covenant that I've made with David.

Which is to say, you can't. You can't break it. Psalms, all throughout the Psalms, it says this. Psalm 89, verse 36 and 37. His seed shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky.

So the covenant that God has made with David about a king that will reign forever, he ties it to the creation. Creation of the world. In Matthew, this is picked up again. And we like to use this often when talking about witnessing to people.

Matthew 9, 37. Luke also says this. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.

He's talking about harvest. Seed time, harvest time, seasons, winter, summer, this is all the pattern of creation. And in the new covenant, when the king has come, the disciples start picking up this language.

In 2 Timothy, this one threw me for a while when you read this. What is he talking about? In 2 Timothy, it says, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Okay, I can get the general concept.

Always be ready, but be ready in season and out of season. What exactly does that mean? And he goes on to say what he means by preaching the word, but in season and out of season. The harvest is plentiful, so pray for laborers.

Let's look at Matthew 13. Matthew 13, starting in verse 24. Now, for homework, I'll be teaching again next week. For homework, if you would read chapter 13, Matthew chapter 13, all throughout this, the kingdom of heaven is like, the kingdom of heaven is like, the kingdom of heaven is like.

Jesus is trying to get his disciples to understand what the kingdom of heaven is like. And in this parable and the one about the field, we get some clarification. So in Matthew chapter 13, starting in verse, what did I say, 24?

Yeah, in verse 24. Another parable he put forth to them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in a field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? And how then does it have tares?

And he said to them, An enemy has come, has done this. The servant said to him, Do you want us then to go and gather them up? Referring to the tares. But he said, No, lest while you gather up the tares, you also uproot wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest. And at that time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, First, gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them. But gather the wheat into my barn.

Into my barn. And this is a parable. And the disciples are like, Man, I want to get this right. I want to be the one that nails it. They have to come to him and they have to ask him, Can you explain that to us?

What are you talking about? The tares and the wheat? And also as a side note, I've always asked, Why do things get so evil? Why is evil allowed to endure? And in here, I think we get the answer. They ask about, Shall we tear up the tares?

This would be the bad seed. There's a consideration or a concern for the good seed in tearing out the tares out of the field. So, in the explanation, if you look in verse 36, Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and they went into the house, and the disciples came to him.

I would say privately because they don't want to ask this in front of all the people that they don't understand their master's teaching. But they go into the house, they ask him, Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.

He answered and said to them, He who sows the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age. And the reapers are the angels. Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, and if you think back earlier, it says, first the tares are pulled out. It says, Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.

The son of man will send out his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all the things that offend and those who practice lawlessness and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be a gnashing of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let them hear. Here he clarifies all the different portions and he picks up this language of harvest time, of a field and sowing and reaping.

And he says, The harvest is the end of the age. And the disciples ask, When will be the end of the age? And then he explains what this harvest is and what it will be like. And he says, First the tares, first the tares are torn up.

And then the good seed shines forth like the sun in the kingdom. Now next week I hope to talk about the nature of the kingdom and the timing of the kingdom. But let's turn to another passage to bring ages and seasons together.

If you'll turn to 1 Corinthians 10 and Ephesians 2. 1 Corinthians 10 let's start in verse 1. Moreover, this is 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea.

Notice these Old Testament Old Covenant images. They were under the cloud, all passed through the sea. All were baptized in Moses, the law, in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

But with most of them God was not pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted, and do not become idolaters as some of them.

As it was written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did. And in one day 23 ,000 fell. Nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents.

Nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages has come.

This is another use of the word ages. And so at the end of the ages has come seems to be saying the people living within this period after Christ's crucifixion Paul is saying there were ages. There were periods.

And now they are at the end of those ages. Upon whom the end of these ages has come. He says let us not be like them and then he shifts in the next chapter, chapter 11 and I'll read the verse and then we'll go to Ephesians.

He says imitate me as I imitate Christ. So now no longer is it just about the old covenant examples that were written down for us. Now we have the apostles. Now we have imitating Peter as he imitates Christ and if you go to Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians chapter 2. He says this and we'll wrap it up. And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once past tense conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh of the mind and were by nature children of children of wrath just like the others.

But God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even we were dead in our trespasses and sin made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

The disciples are asking when will be the end of the age and Paul says the end of the ages have come upon us. He's talking about the old covenant age and then Paul turns around and says that in the coming ages in this new age that the grace and the mercy of Christ will be shown to us.

And so how do we live in the kingdom in light of Christ's mercy and Christ's grace we pray for laborers because there are ages to come and there are harvests to come in which the son sows the good seed which are the sons of the kingdom and we pray for the salvation of those who at the end of these ages when things look very dark that we see its harvest.

That God has not abandoned us to darkness and gloom but he takes people out of the kingdom of darkness and he translates them into the kingdom of light. And so when things look very dark and when things look like they're falling apart or it's the end of the world no it's harvest time and we have work to do.

And so next week we'll talk about the nature of the kingdom and its timing. Any questions or comments? Alright let's pray. God we thank you for this evening we thank you for your goodness to us we thank you that even though we are frail and we are weak you include us in this work you do not need us but you give us work to do.

Lord as we have received the blessing of your son as we have received your salvation and we have been loved by you we have been fed by you. Lord we pray that we would give this to others that we would extend the hope that has been given to us that one day even though this world is dark and even though we face death that death is not the end for us because we have eternal life.

And we pray that we would go out into the fields and that we would seek those that are lost because they are your sheep and you are the good shepherd. So let us speak with your voice. Let us say the things that you would have us say and give us a boldness to do so.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.