JESUS ON THE FUTURE

Father, you know the things which preoccupy us.

You know that even now, Father, even a holy place,

even though Jesus is in our midst, even though we're talking to you,

even though the Holy Spirit is present,

Father, you know how easy it is for us to be preoccupied with so many things.

Maybe it's a pain. Maybe it's an appointment.

Maybe it's a word that somebody said to us beforehand.

Maybe it's a dream. Maybe it's a fantasy, an idol.

Father, you know how easy it is for us to be preoccupied and gripped by many things.

Father, we ask that in your kindness and in your mercy,

your Holy Spirit would fall with fresh power upon us this morning,

that you would make us disciples of Jesus,

gripped by the gospel who live for your glory.

And, Father, that you would help our hearts to be gripped with the words of Jesus

and so that we might live our lives by them.

Father, this we ask, and we ask it in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, I had a small, odd type of experience this morning.

Not that odd, but between the two services,

I go have a coffee at a coffee shop nearby.

And on the way back, I'm praying about my talk.

And, you know, there's always things about your talk that you...

I always have things about my talk I'm not sure about.

Anyway, I was praying about it,

and it was as if God told me that I had to change my introduction,

the one that I'd been working on all week.

And that's what I'm about to do,

because I really had this sense that God told me that I was supposed to do it.

Afterwards, coffee, you can ask me what my original introduction was going to be.

And that's this.

If I was to be able to tell university students and professors

and people who work in certain types of professions,

especially things like social work and in politics,

if I was to tell you that there were...

If I was to say that there were...

If I had a chance,

I would say that there's two or three passages in the Bible in particular

that everybody in university or in social work or in politics

should meditate upon deeply,

maybe even weekly,

and take deeply to heart.

And there'd be two or three or four texts like that

that I would say that are absolutely essential

in our day and age to develop a Christian mind.

And the text in Luke,

which I just read...

I didn't write it.

I read a few minutes ago.

That would be one of those texts

that I would say that

that just about every academic,

every university student,

every professor,

social work,

politician,

a few other professions as well,

economists,

that you need to,

we need to deeply meditate upon this

on a regular basis

if we want to be able to begin to think Christianly.

So let's look.

That's a pretty big claim

that a text like this Luke text

is so fundamental to developing a Christian mind.

It's a pretty big claim.

So let's look at it

and we'll see maybe why

I would make such a big claim about the text.

So it was Luke chapter 21

Luke 21 · chapter mention

and we're back after a couple of weeks.

We'll have a few weeks,

you know,

over the next week

where we,

a few weeks where we don't look at Luke,

the gospel of Luke,

but we're moving towards

finishing the gospel of Luke.

And today we're at Luke chapter 21

Luke 21 · chapter mention

and we'll begin at verse five again.

And here's how the text goes.

And while some were speaking of the temple,

how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings,

and just sort of pause there,

ancient historians,

both Roman and Jewish,

commented that

even though the temple

wasn't one of the seven wonders of the world,

many of them said

that it was more glorious

than the seven wonders of the world,

that it was a spectacular piece of architecture.

It was begun,

a rebuilding,

rejuvenation of the temple

was begun about 20 years

before the birth of Jesus.

And in fact,

the temple was to outlive Herod,

in a sense,

the building project outlived Herod.

And even while

they were talking about this,

the temple was continually

being added upon

and made more beautiful.

The work would continue

until the early 60s,

about another 30 years

after this incident.

So it was known in antiquity

as a spectacularly beautiful building.

And then verse 6.

So they say this to Jesus

because they're proud of it.

It's Jewish people.

They're proud of its beauty.

They're proud of everything

that it symbolizes

about religion

and God's presence with them.

And Jesus responds

in a very surprising way.

It would have been,

it'd be hard for us

just to imagine

how deeply shocking

it would be to them.

But Jesus says in verse 6,

as for these things that you see,

the days will come

when there will not be left here

one stone upon another

that will not be thrown down.

Now just sort of pause there

before we keep reading.

There's a couple of things in it.

The first thing is

that when Jesus says,

it translated quite well in English,

and for these things that you see,

he's saying that

there's going to be

several things connected

to the destruction of Jerusalem.

And we'll see that

when the people respond,

they understand that

he's talking not just narrowly

about the destruction

of the temple,

but that Jesus has

other things in mind as well.

And in fact,

for Jewish people at the time,

they would have seen

the destruction of the temple

as not just being a catastrophe,

but it would have been

a catastrophe for the people.

It would have been a sign

of God's judgment upon the people.

And so they're very,

very curious that Jesus

would say something like this

is about to happen.

And the other thing

which is about this text is

I would be one of those people

that would be described

by outsiders

as taking the Bible literally.

And there's a way

to understand that

which is true.

I take the Bible seriously.

I believe that

even though this was originally

an historical document

written about 30 years,

34 years,

35 years after the death

and resurrection of Jesus

as a result of historical research,

I would believe

that it is also

God's word written,

that every word

that God wanted

to have written down

there was written down.

But we have to understand

that people,

we just always talk

in metaphors

and analogies.

It's just the way

that human beings talk.

Human beings have always talked

with metaphors

and analogies.

And so when it says here

that there will not be

one stone upon another

that will not be thrown down,

Jesus is using a metaphor

of total and complete destruction.

So it's not the case

that if you went back in time

and you heard Jesus say this

and then in the year 70

when the temple was destroyed

you put a stone

on top of another stone

and said,

ha ha ha,

Jesus was wrong.

It wouldn't work like that.

It doesn't literally mean

that after the destruction

there isn't one stone

upon another.

It's a metaphor.

It's a way of talking

about complete

and total destruction,

unusability of the temple.

And that's what Jesus says.

Look at that verse 6 again.

It's for these things

that you see.

Look at the temple,

all of these things.

Okay?

The days will come,

plural,

so there's going to be

a variety of things

that happen,

when there will not be left here

one stone upon another

that will not be thrown down.

So the people around Jesus

are desperately interested

in this.

And so they say

in verse 7,

they're going to ask Jesus,

two questions.

And one of the things

you're going to notice

is that Jesus,

by the time we get

to verse 38,

Jesus doesn't answer

one of the questions.

He answers just

one of the two questions

and he also answers

a question they don't ask,

but they should have asked.

And here's what they say,

verse 7,

and they asked him,

teacher,

when will these things be

and what will be the sign

when these things

are about to take place?

So in other words,

when's it going to happen?

What are the signs

that it's about to happen?

Jesus never answers

the when question.

He's going to talk

about the signs,

but before that,

he takes sort of a

sideways look

at the whole question.

And that begins

in verse 8.

It's actually going to continue

right up to verse 19,

but we'll just read 8 and 9

and then pause.

Jesus said,

see that you are not

led astray.

Remember that?

Jesus doesn't want

his people to be led astray.

He doesn't want

any human being

to be led astray.

For many will come

in my name saying,

I am he,

and the time is at hand.

In other words,

many people will come

claiming to be the Messiah,

or they will come

claiming to know

how history is moving,

and they will claim

to know exactly

what the direction

of history

and the specific

important moment

that we are now in

in terms of

history's direction.

And Jesus says,

do not go after them.

And when you hear

of wars and tumults,

do not be terrified,

for these things

must first take place,

but the end

will not be at once.

Now, one of the things

I've done today,

I'm going to describe

the points,

but I've turned

all of the points

into prayers.

You see,

one of the things,

the vision for our church

is it will be

a prayerful,

Bible-teaching

church,

amongst other things.

And so,

one of the things

I want to try to do

is to help you

to learn how to pray,

help myself to learn

how to pray,

to learn to pray the Bible.

I mean,

how can you go wrong

as a follower of Jesus

if you learn to pray

in response

to what Jesus says?

So, here's the first thing.

If you could put it up,

Andrew.

Dear God,

please grow in me

a complete

and total

rejection

of every

Messianic

and Utopian

movement

and vision.

There you go.

Dear God,

please grow in me

a complete

and total

rejection

of every

Messianic

and Utopian

movement

and vision.

By the way,

this doesn't mean

that you should reject

Messianic Jews.

some Jewish people

who become Christians

refer to themselves

as Messianic Jews

because they believe

the Messiah has come.

I'm not referring to this.

Here's the thing.

This is one of the reasons,

by the way,

why I said

that every university student

and professor

and those in politics,

they need to meditate

upon this text.

What we're going to see

is that from verses

8 to 19,

Jesus gives

a whole series

of non-signs.

Okay?

In other words,

the world thinks

that these things

are very important

and the Bible's

not going to downplay it.

I'm going to get back to that.

The Bible's not dismissing

these as being

unimportant things.

What Jesus is going to say,

these are non-signs.

This is normal life.

That's what Jesus is saying.

This is normal life.

This isn't a sign

of the end.

And the reason

that those of us

who've gone far

in education

need to study

or are involved

in politics

is that,

in fact,

it's hard for modern

Canadians to think

without thinking

in terms of the categories

of messianic

and utopian

visions

and movements.

And in fact,

a significant part

of what goes on

in academia

is helping us

to become

accommodated

to different

visions

of how

history is moving,

of how morality

is progressing,

of what is

right and wrong

in terms of

utopian

or messianic

visions

or understandings

of where history

is going

to some type

of utopia.

And it's so deeply

embedded

in how we talk

and how we analyze

things.

And often,

university education,

I mean,

it does other things

as well.

I mean,

it teaches you

how to do statistics

and, you know,

there's obviously,

it does more than this.

But it's deeply

interwoven

into the categories

of modern thought,

increasingly into

the categories of law,

deeply interwoven

in politics,

sociology,

economics,

literary theory,

religious studies.

And what Jesus

is going to say

is that every single

one of these

utopias

and visions

is wrong.

Every one

without exception,

none of them

will take place.

Every one

will lead you

astray.

Every one.

There will not

come a time

when poverty

is eradicated.

Gosh,

aren't you glad

you came to church

this morning?

Haven't I just

lifted up your spirits?

There will never

be a time

that poverty

is eradicated.

There is never

going to be a time

when there will not

be violence.

There will never

be a time

when there will not

be war.

There will never

be a time

when there is

universal prosperity.

Star Trek

is wrong.

Yes,

I'm sorry.

I've really

ruined

some people's

weeks.

But Star Trek

is wrong.

There will not

be this time

of universal

peace on the earth

where mankind

and womankind

go boldly

to explore places

that have never

come before.

It's just

not going

to happen.

That's the claim

that Jesus

makes.

By the way,

for 2,000 years

since this,

there have been

countless secular

and religious

versions of

utopian and

messianic visions

and they've all

been wrong.

2,000 years

of Jesus being

correct.

And yet today,

and I'm not

picking on the

left,

it happens to be

that right now,

other than Star Trek,

which is sort of a

right wing,

well,

sort of soft

left,

therapeutic

version of this.

You know,

but today,

we tend to think

primarily of

progressive in

what would be

called left-wing

or liberal

categories,

but that's just

an historical

accident.

In fact,

it's only a

historical accident

in certain forms.

There's a version

of Islam,

which is inherently

messianic and

utopian,

and that's what

drives the terrorists,

and to some extent,

much Muslim thought.

There's Hindu

versions of it,

but we're far more

familiar with it

in terms of

different views

around the left

and in terms of

gender and sexuality.

But in the past,

there's been right-wing

versions of this

as well,

and even Christianized

versions using

Christian language.

And Jesus is saying

here,

I'm going to describe

normal life.

And in normal life,

as we're going to see

in a moment,

there's going to be

earthquakes,

there's going to be

famines,

there's going to be

pestilences,

there's going to be

social unrest,

there's going to be

social chaos,

there's going to be

war,

there's going to be

false messiahs,

there's going to be

religious misleaders,

there's going to be

persecution,

there's going to be

oppression,

this is normal life.

I know I've really

encouraged you,

but we'll get to some

hope and encouragement

in the midst of it.

And so the first thing

that we can pray,

in fact,

you know,

maybe if I lose you

and you fall asleep

for the rest of the

sermon,

there's this point,

maybe I'll wake you up

again later on

or something like that

or drag you off of

your Facebook updates,

but this is a really

important prayer for us

to pray,

especially if you

actually don't think

it's true.

And the more you

don't think it's true

of the economics

or sociology

or English literature

that you're taking,

then you have to

pray this the most.

Because it means

we're not even aware

of how much

Messianic and

Utopian visions

are influencing

the categories

of our thought.

So as we go on

through these next

verses,

which will go on

far quicker,

the first point is,

Dear God,

please grow in me

a complete and

total rejection

of every Messianic

and Utopian

movement

and vision.

Let's keep looking.

Some of you are going

to say,

George,

isn't this depressing?

Like, George,

you've been really,

really,

really,

really,

really bleak.

Like, George,

if this is the case,

why don't Christians

just all go build

bomb shelters

in northern Ontario

or North Dakota

or Wyoming

or Idaho

and stockpile

canned goods

and bottled waters

and just sort of

wait for the end

to come.

Well, actually,

I think historically

when Christians

take the words

of Luke 21

the most seriously,

it never leads us

to be in bomb shelters.

In fact,

Jesus is going to

tell us in a few

verses

that that's the exact

opposite thing

of what we should do.

And in fact,

it's actually really

important for us

doing concrete things

to help injustice

and help the poor.

Because, you see,

if we actually believe

wrong things

that don't work,

then it's not going

to help us

do any type

of earthly good.

It will only lead us

to do earthly harm.

Let's just continue

to see how Jesus

sort of purges our minds.

Verse 10,

Then Jesus said to them,

Nation will rise

against nation

and kingdom

against kingdom.

There will be

great earthquakes

and in various places

famines

and pestilences,

and there will be

terrors

and great signs

from heaven.

But before all this,

they will lay

their hands on you,

he's talking to Christians,

and persecute you,

delivering you up

to the synagogues

and prisons,

and you will be brought

before kings

and governors

for my name's sake.

I mean,

one of the people

who's listening to this

is,

some of the people

who are listening to this,

that's exactly

what's going to happen.

That's going to happen

to them

within a few years

of this,

even though they're

not aware of it.

This will be your

opportunity

to bear witness.

Here's the first

little bit of a turn

in terms of

bearing some type

of hope.

That,

this sounds

really depressing,

especially when it

talks about persecution,

and Jesus wants us

to understand

that when persecution

happens to us,

it's not that we have

to feel really

sorry for ourselves.

I mean,

it's fine to come

to God with

our struggles

with the fact

that nobody

likes to be persecuted,

nobody likes

to be slandered,

nobody likes

to have their name

dragged through the mud,

nobody likes

to be misunderstood,

nobody likes

to be beaten up

or have bad

financial things

happen to them,

and it's fine

for us to come

to God in prayer,

pouring out our

heart about this,

but at the end

of the day,

for some reason

in the mystery

of God,

we are to understand

that we,

it's not that we've

got to do this,

that we get to do it,

we get to bear

witness to Jesus.

we get to bear

witness to Jesus.

I'm going to talk

about this,

I haven't talked

about this in a long

time,

but some of you

might or might not

know that we used

to own a church

building,

and we used to be

part of the Anglican

Diocese of Ottawa,

and just over

eight years ago,

we,

after a long period

of trying to deal

with the denomination,

we realized the time

had come when in

faithfulness to Jesus

and in trust and

belief in the Bible

that we could no

longer be part of

the denomination,

and there was all

sorts of slanderous

things said about us

in the press,

and we ended up

taking a stand,

and we left the

denomination,

we ended up,

the diocese sued us

for something that

would have eventually

cost seven figures,

and as part of a

settlement out of

court,

we walked away

from the building.

I'm just mentioning

this because,

what was one of the

things that happened

as a result of this?

I mean,

and I'm not,

this isn't a,

one of the things

that happened to this,

I got to be on

coast-to-coast

CBC morning radio.

I got to be on

CTV news across

the country,

bearing witness to

Jesus,

bearing witness to

why we took the

stand that we did.

I got to spend

time with

reporters.

I got to be,

talk to the fellow

who's now the,

the mayor of

Toronto,

about how the

Bible works to

change lives.

And I,

that wouldn't

have happened if

we hadn't been

pursued in the

courts.

Just would not

have happened.

No,

nobody's calling me

up today.

By the way,

I am not at

all missing

the feeling of

dread that comes

when you see

that it's a

reporter on

your cell phone

and you're

going to have

to talk to

them.

I don't say,

oh God,

please bring

that back to

me.

I'm not,

but you know,

God opened

doors up through

that that would

not have happened

otherwise and

might never

happen again to

me,

but I don't

know.

I don't know

the future.

I don't know

what will happen.

But here's the

thing,

that what we

have to say to

ourselves when

these things

happen to us,

we can in

private say,

God,

why me?

But God is

giving us an

opportunity and

that's what Jesus

is saying.

It's the beginning

of the hope

which comes in

the text,

the peeking

out to keep

us going.

So verse 13

again,

this will be your

opportunity to bear

witness.

Settle it,

therefore,

in your minds,

not to meditate

beforehand how to

answer.

for I will

give you a

mouth and

wisdom which

none of your

adversaries will

be able to

withstand and

contradict.

Just sort of

pause there for

a second.

The original

Greek is hard to

translate here in

a simple way.

The language about

meditating beforehand,

another way to put

it, it would have

been long and

wouldn't fit well

in English,

but basically the

image is that you

spend all of your

time rehearsing a

speech as if you're

in a play.

And what Jesus is

saying is,

okay,

don't spend all

your time back

in a practice

room rehearsing

what you're going

to say.

Go out and

live.

Go out and

bear witness.

And as we're

going to see in a

moment, go out

and help the

poor and go out

and try to deal

with injustice and

go out and share

the gospel and go

out and do all

these things.

Don't spend all

your time rehearsing

what you're going

to say like you're

in a play.

Okay?

Go out.

Go out.

Get on your

knees, then stand

up and get off

your duff and go

out and do

things.

And that's what

Jesus is saying.

And also notice

here a very, very

subtle way that

Jesus is making a

claim to be God

and he's claiming

to rise from the

dead.

Look at verse 15

again.

For I, I will

give you a mouth

and wisdom.

I will give you

these words.

This is dynamite.

This is dynamite.

Part of the flow

of the book is

that Jesus is

saying this right

from Luke chapter

Luke 9 · chapter mention

9 on to here.

Jesus is saying,

I'm going to

Jerusalem to die.

I'm going to

Jerusalem to die.

I'm going to

Jerusalem to die.

Jesus is now in

Jerusalem.

And when we next

look at the next

chapter, the next

chapter is about

the finalizing of

the plot to put

Jesus to death.

It's about the

last supper and

about, in other

words, like 48

hours after Jesus

says this, he's

going to be dying

on a cross.

And he's

pointing to the

fact that he's

going to rise,

which he's also

been telling people

since Luke chapter

Luke 9 · chapter mention

9.

I'm going to

rise from the

dead.

And he gives

himself the type

of power that

only God can

give.

What is Jesus

saying?

If George had

any degree of

ability to speak

to the fellow who

is now the mayor

of Toronto, it's

not because George

is clever, but

because Jesus gave

me the words.

That is a

profound claim that

Jesus is making,

that he will

conquer sin and

death and all

hostile spiritual

powers as he

dies and rises,

and that he is

God.

We'll continue

on.

Verse 16, you

will be delivered

up even by parents

and brothers and

sisters and relatives

and friends, and

some of you they

will put to death.

You will be hated

by all for my

name's sake.

Who would want

to become a

Christian, eh?

But not a hair of

your head will

perish.

Once again, this is

a symbol.

It's not literal.

It's not that if

all of a sudden you

came up to me and

said, cut some of my

hair, he said,

aha, Jesus is

wrong.

No.

It doesn't

contradict it.

Jesus is saying,

God, I care for

you.

You become my

disciple.

You trust me with

your life.

You let me into

your life.

I let you into my

life and I care

for you.

I care for even

the tiniest details.

And Jeremiah has

had us singing this

song for the last,

I don't know,

four or five months.

It has a spectacular

line and a deeply

biblical line.

In fact, I meant

to ask him to sing

it and I forgot

to do it.

Earth has no sorrow

that heaven can't

heal.

Or won't heal,

can't heal?

I think it's can't

heal.

Earth has no sorrow

that heaven can't

heal.

That's what Jesus

is saying.

Earth has no sorrow

that heaven can't

heal.

And even to the

hairs of your head,

you matter to me.

Verse 19,

by your endurance,

you will gain your

lives.

It's a very,

very,

very powerful

thing.

Now,

now,

Jesus is going

to say something

which has

created,

has killed a lot

of trees.

If you go and

try to read some

academic commentaries

on Luke,

if you go read

some journal articles

on Luke,

you'll see that

there's been lots

of pages and

books written

to what about

Jesus is about

to say.

Because what

Jesus is about

to do is to

predict something

that took place

33 years

after his

death.

And,

in fact,

one of the

reasons that

many people

will say that

the Gospel

of Luke

was written

in the late

70s or the

early 80s

is because

the commentators

say we all

know that no

one knows

the future.

And,

because we

know that

no one

knows the

future,

therefore,

in this text

of Scripture,

when Jesus

describes the

destruction of

Jerusalem,

we know that

he can't have

done that.

So,

therefore,

it was added

by Christians

afterwards.

Now,

I'm not going

to try to,

there's a very,

very significant

piece of evidence

as to why

this is a

false claim.

In fact,

the words

of Jesus

have a very

peculiar and

powerful

historical proof

that he said

them before

and that it

was known

and that they

took it to

heart.

And,

well,

let's read it

and then I'll

tell you what

happened.

Verse 20,

but when you

see Jerusalem

surrounded by

armies,

then know that

its desolation

has come near.

Then let those

who are in

Judea flee to

the mountains

and let those

who are inside

the city

depart

and let

not those

who are out

in the country

enter it

for these

are days

of vengeance

to fulfill

all that is

written.

Alas for

women who

are pregnant

and for

those who

are nursing

infants in

those days

for there

will be

great distress

upon the

earth and

wrath.

God's wrath

against this

people.

They will

fall by the

edge of the

sword and

be led

captive among

all nations

and Jerusalem

will be

trampled

underfoot by

the Gentiles

until the

time of the

Gentiles

or the

pagans

are fulfilled.

In the

year 66

approximately

33 years

after this

was written

the Jewish

revolt against

Rome began

and Rome

sent a

general

to deal

with it

and the

general

had a

partial

surrounding

of Jerusalem

and actually

entered

Jerusalem

but the

Jewish

forces

were able

to drive

him out

of the

city

and when

he left

the city

they were

able to

successfully

ambush

him

and basically

destroy

his army.

It was

profoundly

shocking

to Rome

at the

success

and the

power

of the

Jewish

armed

resistance

against

Roman

imperial

power.

So they

sent one

of their

most

competent

generals

Vespasian

to go

and to

deal with

these

troublesome

Jews

and so

Vespasian

organized a

variety of

armies,

Roman

legions

and first

he quelled

the uprising

in Galilee

and a few

other areas

and then

after he

quelled

the uprising

with great

success,

he was a

very competent

general,

he gathered

the legions

and surrounded

Jerusalem

and it

looked as

if Jerusalem's

doom was

near.

But then

the emperor

Nero

committed

suicide

in Rome

thousands

of miles

away.

committed

suicide

and then

thus began

what historians

now refer

to as the

year of

the four

emperors

because a

massive power

struggle

emerged in

Rome.

In the course

of approximately

12 months

four different

people became

the emperor

of the Roman

Empire

and in the

midst of all

of that

turmoil

as Vespasian

has surrounded

Jerusalem with

armies to

destroy it.

He is called

back from

Jerusalem to

Rome to

deal with

it and he

goes and he

is successfully

able to deal

with the

political turmoil

and he

becomes the

emperor,

Vespasian.

And he

sends,

after he

has cemented

power in

Rome in

the year

69,

he sends a

message to

his son who

is now the

general to

return to

the siege and

the destruction

of Jerusalem.

And in the

year 70,

in August,

Jerusalem

falls.

And as is

reported by

Josephus,

approximately

one million

Jewish people

die in that

Jewish revolt

and a hundred

thousand of

them are

carried away

as slaves

into captivity.

And here's

the thing

about this.

Historians

record that

when Vespasian

left and the

siege of

Jerusalem was

temporarily

lifted,

the Christian

church left.

Christians did

not die in

the sack and

destruction of

Jerusalem.

They relocated

far away.

Historical

record.

Don't you

think it is

reasonable to

say that they

remembered the

words of

Jesus, but

when you

see Jerusalem

surrounded by

armies, then

know that its

desolation has

come near.

Then let those

who are in

Judea flee to

the mountains and

let those who

are inside the

city depart, and

let not those

who are out in

the country

enter it.

Here's the

thing, folks,

and I've

turned it into a

prayer.

Dear God,

please help me to

remember that the

words of Jesus

have come true in

the past, and

please grow in

me a trusting

knowledge that his

words are true

today and every

day until the

end.

It's a prayer that

many of us need to

pray, isn't it?

Dear God, please

help me to

remember that the

words of Jesus

have come true in

the past, and

please grow in me a

trusting knowledge

that his words are

true today and

every day until

the end.

By the way, if

you don't have

time to write

these down, the

notes for the

sermon and the

audio of the

sermon go on the

webpage, hopefully

on Monday or

soon after that, if

these are helpful

to you in terms of

forming your

prayer.

But some of you

might be saying,

George, that's all

very, very moving,

but you skipped

over the judgment

part.

Like, George, you

skipped over.

Surely you have to

talk about this.

George, surely,

okay, so

Jesus, you know,

he says this, he's

right, and you

know, you also

say that he

predicts his death

upon the cross and

his resurrection, and

you know, last week

you talked about the

historical evidence for

the reality of the

resurrection and the

meaning of the

resurrection, but

George, George,

George, George,

look at verse 20

again, but when you

see Jerusalem

surrounded by armies

and know that its

desolation has come

near, then let those

who are in Judea flee

to the mountains and

let those who are

inside the city

depart and let not

those who are out in

the country enter it,

for these are days of

vengeance, also

could be translated

as judgment to

fulfill all that is

written, and then,

you know, alas for

women who are pregnant

and for those who are

nursing infants in

those days, for there

will be great distress

upon the earth and

wrath, and it's the

wrath of God against

this people.

George, how can you,

how, George, how can I

take this seriously?

You know, one of the

dangers of messianic and

utopian movements is

that they always leave

lots of people dead.

Messianic movement in

Cambodia, Pol Pot, a

third of the population,

Soviet forced famines in

Ukraine, Maosy Tong's

Great Revolution.

Even today, I'm going to be

a bad boy, but, you know,

as our society becomes

more post-Christian, and

whatever that's going to

be like, it's no, people

probably don't even think

of it as post-Christian

now because it's post-

post-Christian, and now we

want to give doctors the

power to kill the weak, and

we're already killing the

babies in the womb, and

when you have utopian

movements and visions,

people die, and even when we

talk about climate change, I'm

not going to enter into

whether or not I, a few

weeks ago, I talked about

this as an example, and I

didn't say that it was a

fact, and I got a very nice

email rebuking me for not

saying that it was a fact.

You know, I think if it's

science, it's always open for

debate, but, you know, it's

either some type of

historical inevitability that

leads people to die, or

because the end justifies the

means, it means that some

people have to die, and on

one hand, it can just sound as

if we're not aware of the

cruelties often of the

messianic movements and

utopias that we believe this

moment, it's easier for us to

see the cruelties of the ones

that are in the past, although

even then, now, as you know,

with the controversy around the

memorial to the victims of

communism, there are still

people who don't want to

acknowledge that they backed a

completely evil social system

with all of their power for

decades, and they don't want to

acknowledge that, but it's easy

if you go far enough back that

you can see it in the past, you

can't see it in the present, but

people die, and there's no

mercy, and here's the thing for

us as we listen to this text,

as we listen to this text, it's a

very, very un-Canadian idea, I'm

not going to be able to sell it

to you, all I'm going to be able

to say is this, that the Bible

says that we are rebels against

God, and that every single human

being will be judged, that that is

completely and utterly

inevitable, but this is not just

another messianic thing where it's

just going to be, it sucks to be

you, and you're all going to die,

and you're just all under the

judgment of God, that as Jesus is

saying this, he is saying this,

the day before he does the,

introduces the Lord's Supper, and

that night he'll be betrayed, and

the next day he will hang upon the

cross, and the great promise of the

scriptures is that God gives every

human being a choice, that's why

there are evangelists, this is why

there are missionaries who go to

even unreached peoples, and the

choice that God gives to us is the

judgment of God must surely fall, and

the choice before us is whether it

falls on me, or whether it falls on

Jesus in my stead, and in my place, that

is the human choice, we Canadians filled

with pride think that it is a terrible

thing that everybody is not in heaven,

and it breaks God's heart that not

everybody will be in heaven, but we

should view it that even having one

person in heaven is a miracle of God

that required the death of God, the Son of

God, upon the cross, to bear the

desolation and the judgment that you and

I deserve.

If you could put it up, Andrew, I've

turned it into a prayer.

Dear God, I thank you that by your

grace, the judgment that I deserved

fell on Jesus, and that you bestowed on

me the life that he deserved.

Please grow in me a grateful, humble,

trusting knowing of what Jesus did for

me.

Dear God, I thank you that by your

grace, the judgment that I deserved

fell on Jesus, and that you bestowed on

me the life that he shared, that he

deserved.

Please grow in me a grateful, humble,

trusting knowing of what Jesus did for

me.

That's the context to understand this.

I mean, there's other issues, but that's

no Christian can understand the whole

issue of judgment without first thinking

about the cross.

And, you know, this is a profound, if any

of you are here and you have this sense of

doom about your life, if any of you are

here struggling with shame, that there is

something that's not just that you've done

wrong things, but that there's something

fundamentally wrong for you, if you are

here thinking that fundamentally bad things

are going to happen to you, that good

things will never happen to you, if doom

characterizes your life, the story of the

gospel is the doom that you deserved fell on

Jesus, and the life that he deserved is

offered to you today.

All because Jesus loves you.

We have to wrap this up.

And some of you might be saying, George, you

haven't even started to talk about the

second coming of Jesus yet.

But, by the way, one of the things that I do

here, you know, it would be a very different

sermon if I took Matthew and Mark and Luke

and tried to show how they were all similar and

how they were all different.

In our Going Deeper this week, I just, those

of you who do Going Deeper, which is in the

bulletin, I give you the three parallel

texts, and you can look at them and talk

about the similarities and differences in

the same text.

We're just camping in Luke.

One of the things to understand about the

destruction of Jerusalem, and especially

comes if you look at Matthew's account of

it, is that in some ways, it's almost as if

what happens in Jerusalem is maybe like a

bit of a prototype or a bit of a precursor

of what the end might be, that in some ways,

Jerusalem will probably be involved in

whatever the end is.

And even here in Jesus' teaching, he basically

implies that Israel will come back together

again, that there will be a Jewish nation and

Jewish people.

But Jesus goes and moves very, very quickly

into now into the fact that literally,

literally, and I mean literally the way people

used to mean literally as meaning not sort of

like vaguely like, but I actually like

literally, literally, literally.

It's really hard because there used to be a

word called literally that meant something

and now literally doesn't mean what it

literally used to mean for all people.

And so somebody needs to reinvent a word

that now means what literally used to mean

like 10 years ago.

But I mean like actual, okay?

Jesus actually says that he will return and

he uses the title, he uses constantly throughout

the Gospel of Luke, the title of the Son of Man.

In fact, just before we read it, if you could put

up the next point, Andrew, as the prayer to sort

of remind us of this.

Dear God, please grow in me an ever-deepening

confidence and longing for the return of Jesus

Messiah.

Dear God, please grow in me an ever-deepening

confidence and longing for the return of Jesus

Messiah.

This is the flip side of what I said earlier about

students and academics and over-educated people

like myself that not only do we have to rid our minds

of messianic and utopian visions and movements,

but we have to grasp and be gripped by the real

return of Jesus.

And here's what he says in verse 25.

And there will be signs and sun and moon and stars and