This morning, we turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 24. I'm doing this a bit in reverse. We're going to look at the second coming this morning, and tonight we'll come back and look at the first coming. And I believe you'll see a real important tie when we look at it this way, of these two events. Matthew chapter 24. And I will read with you the first 35 verses. The text will be through verse 14. Let's give our attention to the Word of the Lord. Jesus left the temple and was going away when His disciples came to point 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, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, Tell us when these things will be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. 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. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and 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. 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 this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 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. For alas 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 the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation such as not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 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. Then if anyone says to you, look, here's the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I've told you beforehand. So if they say to you, look, he's in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, look, he's in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. From the fig tree learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and 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 until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not. pass away may the lord bless the hearing of his word it is absolutely fascinating maybe that's not the best word but it's something to look at everything that has happened and how the world uh scene has changed even in the course of one year a lot has happened hasn't it i've been uh extremely moved and i think about how much at least we see of things like governments toppling, revolutions, economic disaster, financial cliff talk, all these sort of things. Bombs going off in the open squares. Earthquakes in various places. It's an intensely intense time on the world scene, isn't it? Challenging time on the world scene. Everyone seems to be gripped by fear right now. That is the one thing that I've noticed over and over is people are really intensely gripped by fear. There is millennial madness all around us, it seems, on top of all of this. It wasn't so long ago that Harold Camping had made his prediction and you remember all of the news and all of the crazies of things that happened with people after that. This last Friday was supposed to be the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar. And it didn't happen again. What does all of this mean? Just accumulation of so many things happening. So many events. So many dangerous things. And I think probably what has been largely on our minds is the struggle that we're having living in this country, seeing what appears to be the fall of the United States. And that makes me shivered even to say that. Should I say that? Do I want to say that? Of course, I don't want to say that. But think of what we're asserting. The fall of the United States of America right in front of us. If you're stirred up by any of that, I could go on. If you're stirred up by any of this, you're getting a little sense and a little taste of what the disciples were facing in Matthew 24. The disciples were overwhelmed with fear. The disciples were overwhelmed with panic. And the Lord is answering this fear this morning. The Lord is giving them perspective. He's giving them a way forward. He's helping them think through everything they're seeing because their perspective is all wrong. And they have forgotten. They have forgotten how powerful the Lord is. What His supreme sovereignty and control really means in light of these events and that all of this chaos that we're seeing happen and take place does not mean that the Lord has let this world spin into chaos and out of control. This is Matthew 24 this morning. And Jesus assures His disciples here that He is the author of the future, that we are not to live in fear, but that we are to be ready because all of these things that are happening around the world and in our country and all around us are indicating to us the coming is soon. The second coming. It is near. At the door. That's what our Lord wants us to think about. That's what our Lord wants us to consider this morning. So I thought it would be immensely helpful today to look at how our Lord instructed His people in the past through these things, what He did specifically to deal with these problems, to move His people forward, and to teach them that they are not alone, that God's people have always faced these things as He prepares us and wants us to be ready. So the purpose here is twofold in Matthew 24. The purpose here is to comfort the sheep who are scared. And that's really big and important to say up front this morning. The purpose is to comfort scared sheep. But there's another purpose. The second purpose is to stir up those who are sleeping. To wake up and look carefully at what's happening. All these things are telling us something. All these things are telling us something. So let's look at Matthew 24 this morning with this in mind. In verse 1, we read that Jesus was walking away from the temple. He was in the outside courts. If you remember chapter 23, he had just cried out in a moment in a real scene of Jerusalem's unbelief. He cried out in lament over their unbelief. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I longed to gather you together as a kin gathers or chicks, but you were not willing. In the middle of that cry, he pronounced seven woes in chapter 23 on the scribes and the Pharisees, the rulers of Israel. And then in verse 38 of that chapter, he said something that threw the disciples. One thing here that really threw them. He said, see, verse 38, your house is left to you desolate. He just said, what? Your house is left to you desolate. And I say, you shall not see me anymore till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is a powerful moment. I almost think you have to feel it. I almost think, just feel this just for a minute. From the perspective of the disciples. The disciples can't believe what they've just heard. And so in verse 1 of chapter 4, we read that they came to show Him the buildings of the temple. Did you catch that? Lord, are you speaking of that temple? Look at it again. You can't mean the Jerusalem temple. Did you mean to say that that glorious temple is going to be left desolate? The temple was everything to Israel. I mean, you know the history of the Scriptures of the temple, its glory, and who built the temple. and the thing had fallen down a couple of times. But here, this temple was pristine. It was beautiful. For Israel to not have the temple, how do you even process that? How do you begin to process that? And so Jesus replied to their concern in verse 2. And He said, You see all these things, do you not? In other words, take another look at them. I want you to study this with your eyes for a minute. Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. Jesus just said Jerusalem and its temple is done. I'm done with it. We're throwing it down. We then read Jesus goes out and he sits on the Mount of Olives, this overlooked, the beautiful Kidron Valley. And if you could have a scene and you knew what this looked like, you're looking over all the accomplishments of mighty Jerusalem and all of its beauty and all of its great glory. This is the city of the great king. This is everything. All the history of Israel. The pride of the Jews was Jerusalem. And there was Mount Zion. The temple and all of its extravagance. better, they thought, than what Solomon had crafted and built. And we can imagine the astonishment that goes on here. The stones, they say, at least as Josephus records, were some 35 feet white, beautiful stones. The temple dominated the landscape when you looked. It would have been the thing that every eye gazed upon sitting up on the Mount of Olives. In fact, the rabbis would say, He who has not seen the temple of Herod has never seen a beautiful building. Never seen one. What Jesus just said in Matthew 24 was absolutely devastating. If you were to go on a mountain, hypothetically, and look over New York, and you were set up high in 2001, and you were to look down, and off in the distance you would have seen to massive towers, wouldn't you? And who would have ever dreamed, right, the symbol of Wall Street and America's power if somebody had come along and said, see those next week? They're coming down. What would you have said? If you really believed Him, you would have fallen right into panic. What do you mean those are coming down? I can't even fathom the thought of that, that the World Trade Center is going to be toppled over. We can only imagine what Americans would have felt seeing all of that and hearing all of that. And when it did happen, think of how much devastation there was in this country. Snapped our pride, didn't it? Oh, it snapped it. Everything that symbolizes U.S. power, imagine, if it was said, all of it, White House, the trade centers the monument everything you want to say that symbolizes the power of the U.S. is going to be knocked over. That would be absolutely distressing to us. The disciples come to Jesus with this thought on their minds and they have a couple questions. Lord tell us when these things will be and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age. If somebody had said that about the United States, we'd say it's got to be the end of the world, right? That's what we think. That's how much pride we have. The United States falls, so does everything else. And that's how they looked at it. If this temple gets knocked over, it's got to be the end. When are you coming? Now Jesus is going to answer these questions. They're two different questions. And there's going to be a whole period in between these two events happening. But here it is clear, when Jesus said not one stone will be left here upon another, He was talking about the destruction of the temple. And then the second question has to do with His second coming and glory. We want to know. We want to understand this. You want to understand this? I want to understand this. What do you hear in these questions? Fear. It is complete fear that has overcome them. Got to be the end if Jerusalem falls. What does it mean for us and what do we do? And I'm sure many of us are thinking that way heading into 2013. This is kind of a good old year's, new year's perspective. Well, what happens if this whole economy crumbles? What happens on this financial, whatever they're talking about, fiscal cliff? And what happens when we pass? And what happens if this bubble bursts and this country falls as we know it? What does that mean for us and our children? No one knows. No one can answer that. Notice that? No one can answer the what if and what is possibly coming. And it could get really interesting. And again, that's probably not the best word. Christ begins to answer this. And He begins to answer each of their questions applying what would happen in A.D. 70 I believe foreshadowing what would come at the end linking it together to make some very grand observations and conclusions for them to go forward. So he responds in verses 4-14 with a list of signs of His coming. Now you'll notice down in verse 30 there's one single sign of His coming. There are signs and then there is the sign. And the sign is that coming on the clouds of heaven with all of His glory. That's the sign. But there are signs that He is going to come. And so Jesus answers these beginning in verse 4. And He says, Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, claiming I am the Christ and will deceive many. 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. First thing Jesus here addresses is there's going to be a great deception. There's going to be a great deception and many are going to come in His name and they are going to claim they are Christ and they are going to lead astray many. And the thing that we really want to emphasize here in light of that is that there will be, Because the Scriptures constantly set this before us that there will be a great turning away from the truth. This is a painful phenomenon that the Scriptures describe all over the place. I often think of the one in 2 Thessalonians 2 which says that the very characteristic of the great apostasy that is coming upon the world is that people will so refuse a love for the truth so to be saved, that the consequence of that is that today they're not receiving the truth, tomorrow they're going to be deluded and believe the lie. Jesus spoke about this in His earthly ministry a lot. And I've always thought too that you can look at the state of things with the Jews before Christ came and then during the time of His earthly ministry and you could see many parallels to what is to come. But Jesus was constantly speaking about His witness. You'll know in John's Gospel that the theme of witness was a very big subject for Him. And Jesus would say many things about witness. He would go around to the Jews saying, I have bore witness to the truth. I have spoken the truth. I've given miracles to support it. And Jesus was making very clear that when people turned from the truth and did not receive His witness and did not receive His truth. It wasn't an intellectual problem. It wasn't that people said, wow, I just have to consider and weigh this Jesus' claims with everyone else's claims. That's not what it was. Jesus made very clear these were moral issues often. And He would say things like, look at my works. My works have evidenced my witness. Look at all these people I've changed. Look at what's happened. Look at the people like Nicodemus and the woman at the well and the man on the Sabbath who was healed. And look at their joy and look at their following. Millions of people have attached themselves to this man throughout history. From Genesis 3 forward. The evidence is all around us, isn't it? The evidence of His resurrection power of His grace in people's lives and the evidence of His Word that is like a hammer. And many people don't receive it. They don't take it seriously. And Jesus gave a sweeping indictment. Remember that indictment? I have come in My Father's name and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe? You'll receive antichrists before me, said Jesus. Jesus is warning in Matthew chapter 24 that one of the real signs that He is coming soon is that you're going to see a whole bunch of people take advantage of this kind of unbelief. They're going to take advantage of this kind of unbelief. And they're going to make claims that are radical. They're going to make claims that lure in people after them. And they will follow them. And there will be multitudes of false teachers. Because the truth is not received today, the consequence tomorrow is these kind of false teachers will pull in a great number. I'm amazed at what people will believe today, aren't you? I guess I shouldn't get surprised at it anymore, but look at what people will believe. Look at what people will follow. Look at who they will follow. Wild in times views, predictions, all of that you're going to see. Some who will blatantly claim they are Christ. And these kind of things that happen precipitate the kind of fear here that the disciples are dealing with. What does fear do? Fear takes our eyes off of Christ. Fear takes our eyes off of Him and His sovereign power and what He is doing. And Jesus here is giving us a whole series of these sort of things to think about. In verse 6, He says, there will be wars and rumors of wars. Jesus says one of the signs of His coming is you're going to see the intensity of nations going into upheaval. You're going to see increased revolutions, if you will. Politically and economically, the nations of this world, you're going to see a great intensity of instability in the governments of this world. And lawlessness is going to abound. And it's going to be a sign to us, Jesus says, that it's close. That it's at the door. I find it interesting that He uses and shows the word rumors. Don't you? Rumors is an interesting word. It's the whole sense of what you hear as a report, and you could fairly translate it, you're going to hear news reports. There's going to be so many news reports going on of massive unrest among the peoples, and what happens when that occurs? We become absorbed in it. We become fixated on it. The whole absorption is driven by fear, and we become disillusioned, don't we? We're into issues and thoughts and questions we shouldn't be in, and we've just lived that last week. We're acting like this chaos is completely outside of the control of our sovereign God, and we don't know how to process it. And Jesus is saying, if I may, remember Psalm 2? Why do the nations rage in the people's plot of vain things? Why are the nations full of so much turbulence? They are restless. They are restless, shaking their fist at Me. And He who is in heaven shall do what? Laugh. Who's in control of all of this? Jesus goes on. You can expect the ground to shake under people's feet. You can expect that it's going to do a lot of damage. You can expect famines. There will be times when the earth will not yield its increase and supply enough food. Jesus says in verse 8, all these things are the beginning of birth pains. Interesting you chose that, isn't it? Most men here have today, I know years ago they didn't let the men in the delivery room, did they? I don't think so. But I got to watch my children be born. My wife was pretty bold until that first birth pain hit. Wham! And then she wasn't so friendly to me. And then those kept coming. Wham! And they intensified. Wham! Wham! And they kept coming and kept coming and kept coming until the baby was born and then joy. And that's something we can grab onto and say, you know, things are intensifying. Things will intensify. It's the reason He used this. These are like birth pains to the final judgment. Everything you're seeing right now happening on the scene of history, they are like birth pains to the final judgment. You're seeing the nation's rage. You're seeing forces in creation, right? Well, that's what the world describes it as. Mother Nature. They can't stop it. They want to stop it and they can't. Jesus is saying, I want you dear Christians to look at this a little bit differently and I want you to remember that all these things that are happening all these things that are happening are a reminder that the end is coming soon. But as bad as they are, they're just contractions. They're just contractions. Now why is He doing this? Are you a little disturbed? Maybe a little fearful? Why is Jesus doing this? Is He doing it to cause fear? Is ignorance bliss? Absolutely not. We need to know. And Jesus cares to tell us. He knows what Christians do in the midst of all of this. We've seen it play out. We get really discouraged, don't we? I can't look at children getting shot up in a classroom and not become intensely discouraged. I can't. And that's why Jesus is addressing me. I'm moved by this because the heart of this whole address, which I think it's overlooked, is something he says in verse 6. And I don't know if you've ever considered how radical this statement is. But it's got to be the most radical statement in the whole thing. Do not be troubled. What? Don't be troubled. When I see terrible atrocities in the world, I wonder how Jesus could say that. Don't be alarmed. I have a hard time thinking about that. I have a hard time processing that. Jesus just said, don't be troubled by any of this. In the heart of this, that's what He said. And you think, well, how do we understand that? He just said at the very end, all these things must come to pass. And you may be standing there saying, well, why must they come to pass? And I don't believe that's yours. History has an end. This is clear. Things are moving to Judgment Day. That is clear. And Christ doesn't want us to forget why we're here. That is clear. And so in verses 9 through 14, He says, you're going to see other things. you're going to see people be handed over and they're going to be persecuted. This happens all the time in third world countries. And then I believe something peculiar that we need to be very aware of. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. That's my real big concern. Because of the sheer increase of wickedness, you're going to see a cooling off of many who claim to believe. Jesus says, he who remains firm to the end will be saved. Why is Jesus doing this today? Jesus is saying these things because He doesn't want any of this to become obstacles to our faith. None of it. And not that we would not be about endless speculation as to the wise and that stupid question, where was God in this? It's all going to end soon. Learn this parable from the fig tree, if you will. He solidifies it that way. He says, when its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things, you know it's near. When you see buds on your trees, well, you get them all the time here, don't you? But see, up in Linden, they had seasons. And in those seasons, sometimes you would see, And you knew when these beautiful buds came. And you got really excited. When you see that, just like when you look at a tree and you see those buds and you see them coming, you know the flower is going to bloom. When you see all this stuff, you know it's coming. Judgment Day. It's right at the door. You're still troubled with, well, how can I not be alarmed by all of this? Donald Gray Barnhouse was asked to preach years ago at one of the largest churches in Ireland full of soldiers who were going off to war. Many of them would be killed because of Hitler's invasion. Someone said to Barnhouse, I'm so glad I don't have to preach today. I hope you have a good sermon. Many of these lads will never come back from the war. So Barnhouse opened up to this text, Matthew 24. and he began to preach and he looked at these soldiers who most of them were all going to die. And he said, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Don't be alarmed. And explaining the horrors of it all, he said, millions of homes will be broke up. Don't be alarmed. Children will be torn from their mothers, which represents all the wails that have ever gone up since the beginning of the world. Jesus said, don't be alarmed about this time. The tension in the church was horror was over these young men going off to war. Barnhouse stopped and he said, these are either the words of a madman or these are the words of God. And he shook his fist toward heaven and he cried, God, unless Jesus Christ is God, these are the most horrible words that could be spoken to men who have hearts. Men are dying. Don't be alarmed. Children are crying in misery with no beloved face and sight. Don't be alarmed. How can Jesus say such a thing? And he went on to preach Jesus. Jesus is God. He's the Lord of history. And there is nothing that has ever happened that is not under His sovereign control. Men hate and kill one another. And yet in the middle of it all, the middle of history is Jesus Christ who has come to deal with this misery we chose. And He is the resurrection and the life. And whoever believes in Him will not perish. I have to keep that in front of me. There's one thing that they didn't ask Jesus. What should we do? What should we do? How can we be ready, right? Well, no one knows the day nor the hour. Not even the angels in heaven, not Harold Camping. No one knows the day nor the hour. How do I be ready? Jesus will say, well, who is the wise and faithful servant who his master made ruler over his household to give them food and do season, blesses that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. But if he says in his heart, oh, my master delays his coming, and he begins to beat his fellow servant and eat and drink and get drunk, he's going to come when he's not aware and Jesus says they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What was Jesus doing? You know what Luther said, right? If he knew the Lord was to come tomorrow, he'd plant a tree today. Why would he say that? There's one sign here that Jesus speaks of that we can be very active with. Did you catch it? In verse 14? This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come. That's our concern, isn't it? And when we're caught up in everything else, I promise you that's not getting done. Our concern is that. Our focus is that. Our desire is that. Our prayers are for that. It's for this pulpit ministry. It's for the gospel going out to the ends of the earth. It's for the church of Jesus Christ today on the day of worship in a day of such darkness that proclaims that we need to be about. Our lives are witnesses. That's why we're here. It's last Sunday morning, isn't it? And Jesus is saying, no matter what happens in this world, I don't want you to live in fear. Isn't that wonderful that He would say that to you today? I don't want you to live in fear. You don't have to live in fear. I feed you. I care for you. I'll provide for you. And when you die, you go to be with me. My angels will come. Verse 31, with the sound of a great trumpet. And you know what they're going to do? They're going to gather my elect. And thank God for the doctrine of election. They're going to gather my elect from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And they're going to bring them in. From one end of heaven to the other. I close with this this morning. I don't know how many of you knew the late Eric Fenema. He was a URC minister who died a little over two years ago. We had a close friendship. And Eric had... I preached for Eric in Lethbridge. I went up to do a wedding up there. And I preached for Eric in Lethbridge, and I asked him before I left, I said, Eric, I want you to come to Linden sometime and to preach. So we had just had our third child, and he calls me up, and he says, hey, I'm coming through Linden, and I'll preach for you. I said, great. So I sat there that day, and he preached on the parable of the ten virgins, Matthew 25, and he gave a sermon I'll never forget. It was a sermon pleading with people to be ready because there are many in the kingdom who are not ready. That night we sat together, his wife, Reverend Camming Gunn Millie. We all sat together around the table, had a wonderful time. Never forget it. Seminary student was there. It was just edifying. Later that week I get a call that Reverend Finema died of a massive heart attack. And as I was piecing that whole thing together, it's interesting sometimes to stand back and look at providence. I know we can't always ask and understand why, but to look at providence and look what God has done. And here he had stood up in the pulpit of the Linden URC and his very last sermon as an older minister in the Reformed churches, his very last sermon was watch and be ready because you don't know the day nor the hour. And then he died. And I thought to myself, wow, what a blessing the Linden URC had. Because the Lord made the minister an example. That's what ministers are. Made him an example. And here that man was preaching his heart out of the gospel. I went up to Lethbridge and preached his funeral. And I'll never forget looking at a hurting congregation and they had taken his body and they had opened the casket, which I don't see anymore. And I'll never forget the young people walking by that casket. And I don't think they would have wept like they would have had that casket not been there. And they looked at his body. And they passed by, and I saw weeping of high school kids and young people like I've never seen before. And I preached to that congregation, and I said, I don't understand why the Lord would take a minister so capable of preaching the gospel. And I don't understand, to add to that this week, how the things that happened in the past few weeks I can fathom or comprehend the shooting death of children can be for any good. It just shows the misery of the world in which we live. But I said to that congregation, I said, I do see God's intention. I do see clearly God's intention in these string of events in setting before us through His servant a very serious call to be ready. And I confess that apart from grace and apart from His Word and apart from the Lord doing this every week, I don't know how people can be ready. I don't know. When sorrows happen, His purposes are being worked out. And if you're here, we're spreading His Gospel to the ends of the earth and then the end will come. And I think, what a noble purpose to be here in 2013 if the Lord stays us. The Lord just said to us, no matter what it is, don't be troubled. Take that. Believe that. Receive that. And remember, no one stands on his own. I leave you with the blessing of Jude. to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. O Lord our God, we are so grateful that You are accomplishing Your perfect purposes and that You have completely blotted out fear today and if we don't choose to listen to you that's our fault because you have just said don't be afraid don't be troubled and I'm so thankful that you said it oh Lord God and I pray that these words would inspire us today to be about the one great sign and that we as church members would give ourselves to show to this world the joy we have to come to worship You on the Sabbath. To show a lost and dying world that there is meaning and that there is real power and that Your Gospel is going out and that people are being saved and we've tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Fill us with that kind of fervency and desire and Lord, forgive us that we have lived earthly minded and that we have not been ready like we should be. Encourage us and surround us with Your peace and prepare us, O Lord, for Your glorious return on the clouds of heaven. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.