The Olivet Discourse (Part 1) ***

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. So if you would, please turn to the book of Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24, the title of this morning's message is Wars and Rumors of War.

Now, if you have anxiety about this subject or maybe you're afraid that this is going to end up going in a political direction, let me just set your mind at ease for a moment. First of all, I'm not interested in rallying anyone to any political cause.

It's number one. Number two, I was talking with someone recently and they said, you know, it's like we're living in the end times. He said with COVID and now war breaking out in in Europe, it's like the book of Revelation.

Well, it's not. It's not. And it's not the end times. I mean, I suppose it could be in in the near future. But as of this moment, no, this is not the end times. This is not the book of Revelation. So I don't think there's any reason at this point in time to get too nervous.

These types of things have happened before, although I did wake up to the news about the missile supposedly from Iran hitting the U .S. consulate in Iraq. So we'll just have to wait and see. What's important for us, though, is to remain faithful to the Lord no matter what is going on in the world.

Because we know that if we trust Christ in the end, no matter what happens in the end for God's people, it will be OK. But how do I know we're not living in the end times? We'll look at Matthew 24, verse six.

Jesus says, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. To see that what? See that you are not troubled. For all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. OK, the end is not yet. Mark read from First Thessalonians, chapter five for the scripture reading about the end time event known as the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord.

And what did we see? The Apostle Paul speaking to believers. He says, you are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. So we should watch. It's not going to take us by surprise.

We don't have to worry about it. All of a sudden it's here and we were we were not ready. Obviously, we should watch. We should pay attention.

We should be vigilant.

We should know what's going on. But warfare, pestilence, disease, all these things have happened throughout history. They've happened before and they're probably, you know, if the Lord carries, they're going to happen again.

So you will hear of wars and rumors of war that see that you are not troubled. That's what Jesus said. See that you are not troubled. This phrase don't be troubled or fear not. Some variation of it is found three hundred and sixty five times in the Bible.

It doesn't sound like that's a coincidence to me. One for every day of the year. But this is one of the most common things that Jesus would say to his disciples. He would say, fear not. Don't be afraid.

Let not your heart be troubled. If it's helpful to look at it this way, view it as a commandment. Hey, don't live in fear. Do not be afraid. And I know that's easier for some people than others. It's easier said than done.

Some people feel like they really can't help it. That just I live in this state of fear and anxiety. But the more you trust in the Lord, the less you will be afraid. No one said it's going to be easy.

But Christ has promised that he will be with us. So trust in God more, and hopefully the fear should be a little less. So I'm here to tell you this morning, if you've placed your faith, all of your faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of sin and its penalty, you have no reason to be living in fear.

You have no reason for your heart to be troubled. You know, joy and peace is one of the fruit of the Spirit. And we should be walking in that. Now, on the other hand, if somebody is listening and they have rejected the gospel, they have not obeyed the gospel, then that's another story.

These are those who will be saying, as Mark read from that passage, they will be saying, peace and safety, and then sudden destruction comes upon them. Generally, and I think this is true, there's two types of people in the world.

There are the people that are looking forward to heaven, and then there are the people that are trying to build some heaven-like utopia here on the earth. You know, that's never going to work. It's never going to work.

It never has worked. It's never going to. Colossians 3, verse 2, the Apostle Paul said, set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. So let's look at this passage in Matthew 24, and hopefully we'll see the relevance for us today.

Matthew 24 is known as what? What's the theological term or label for this passage? Who knows?

All of it discourse.

Good. The all of it discourse. Why is it called the all of it discourse? Well, a discourse is a discussion, right? It's a conversation. Jesus is having this discussion with his disciples on the Mount of Olives, hence the term all of it discourse.

Look at Matthew 24, starting in verse 1. It says, then, Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, Do you not see all these things?

Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down. This had to be a shocking statement from the lips of Jesus, that the temple in Jerusalem, this great massive structure that they had been working on, I think for 46 years, it was just a continual building project that started by, of course, it was built long before that, but King Herod had started in 20 BC this great building project, and it was ongoing right up until it was destroyed in 70 AD in the first Jewish-Roman War.

But this statement that it would be demolished, this had to have shook the disciples to their core. So Jesus makes this statement, or prophecy, if you will, and it provokes questions from his disciples.

And we're going to look at those questions in a moment. Now, why did they ask Jesus about the temple? What provoked all of this? Well, it's probably because of the previous chapter. Look at Matthew 23.

Just flip back to Matthew chapter 23. What is happening in chapter 23? Jesus had scorched the religious leaders of Judaism. He's telling them how the judgment of God is coming. And Matthew chapter 23 ends with Jesus lamenting, or he might have even been physically weeping and crying over the city of Jerusalem.

Look at verse 37. Matthew 23, verse 37.

Jesus said,.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

See your house, speaking of the temple, your house is left to you desolate. For I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So the disciples are hearing all this, and I think they're starting to put the pieces together, and that's why they ask Jesus about the temple.

Now just one comment on this statement, blessed is he, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The next time Jesus will be seen by Israel is when he comes in the clouds of heaven.

That will be in the end times, right? We're not in the end times now, but that will be in the end times when the nation of Israel finally recognizes Jesus as the Christ. Until then, Jesus says, your house, and notice he doesn't say God's house, it was referred to as God's house.

The temple was the house of God. Now he's calling it your house. This is yours now. Your house is left to you desolate. So I think what is happening is the disciples are starting to put two and two together.

They, like everyone else, had expected the Messiah to be this great warrior. He would be a figure like King David, who would rise to power, take the throne, drive out Israel's enemies, and establish the nation again as a world power.

Well, that didn't happen, and I think they realized at this point,.

You know what?

This isn't going to happen. So they hear Jesus condemning the nation's leaders. He says the judgment of God is coming, and the temple will be left desolate. What does the word desolate mean? Abandoned, uninhabited, deserted, it'll no longer be in use.

The disciples knew the history of their nation. They knew something about the Babylonian captivity. They knew of the prophet Jeremiah, and Jeremiah did something similar, right? Jesus came preaching repentance.

Jeremiah came preaching repentance. Jeremiah said if you don't repent, our enemies are going to come in and destroy the place. Well, Jesus is saying the exact same thing. So the first temple was destroyed, and now they go up on the Mount of Olives, which was opposite the temple mount.

So they'd be on this mountain looking across the valley at this great structure of the temple, and I think what they're doing is saying, Lord, are we understanding you correctly? Is this really what is going to happen?

Are we going to see another event like the Babylonian captivity? And Jesus confirms their theory that God's blessing had been removed and the house of God, which is now their house, is going to be destroyed.

So this is becoming real to the disciples of Jesus, and when Jesus said that the temple is going to be destroyed, they understand it's not going to be like the days of Joshua where the Lord fights for Israel.

It's not going to happen that way. So naturally this raises some questions and concerns. Look at Matthew 24 starting in verse 3. It said, Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, Tell us, when will these things be?

That would be the first thing you want to know. When will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? So when they hear this, they want to know when. When will these things be?

Now listen carefully, okay? This is crucial in understanding what's going on here. If you're going to interpret Matthew 24 correctly, notice the disciples, they ask more than one question. Verse 3, they ask, When will these things be?

That's one question. Then they ask, What will be the sign of your coming? That's the second question. And of the end of the age. So you have at least two if not three different questions being asked and then addressed.

Why does this matter? Because there's a group of Bible teachers out there known as preterists. What's a preterist? The idea of preterism, you think of the prefix pre. P-R-E means what?

Before.

So a preterist is someone who says these events have happened before. They've happened in the past. So these are Bible teachers that read Matthew 24 and they say all of this has already happened in the first century.

And here's the tricky thing about it. Some of these things did happen in the first century. The temple was destroyed in the first century. But there's a lot of other things stated that did not happen in the first century.

And remember, Jesus is answering one question with the destruction of the temple, but he's also answering the question of his second coming in the end of the age. So where do they get this idea of preterism?

Because the temple was destroyed. That's true. Here's the proof that not all these events have taken place. Look at verses 29 through 31. This is referring to the second coming of Christ. The scripture says, Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.

The stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

I think if that happened,.

It would have been recorded in some history books. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the nations of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from the one end of heaven to the other.

That has clearly not yet taken place. Jesus has not yet returned. The tribulation has not yet begun. So if anyone ever turns on the news and says, Oh, isn't it so crazy and chaotic, and look at the things that are happening, I think we're living in the end times.

What are you going to tell them? This is not the end times, okay? This is not the book of Revelation. Have you read the book of Revelation? It looks nothing like what's happening right now. Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.