Prepared and Preparing (4/12/26)

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That's CHVRCHNS q.org, and now let's listen in to today's

teaching. Well, it was called the Great

Disappointment. The Great disappointment based

on his study of Daniel chapter 8 verse 14, William Miller set

Daniel 8:14

dates for Christ's return in 1843 and then in 1844 his

followers grew to 10s of thousands.

Expecting that the event would happen in Northeast United

States and preparing, they sold their property and they gathered

for the end. And when October 22nd, 1844 came

and went, it became known as the Great Disappointment because

Jesus had not come and they had not gone with Him.

Many followers left the movement though.

That's what contributed to the formation of what we know now as

the 7th Day Adventist Church. Again, in 1994, there was a man

who said that the Lord was going to return then.

And then he revised his calculations and claimed that

actually his first calculation was a spiritual judgment that

had occurred. And then he changed it again to

not from 1994, but to May 2011. And then when that came and

went, Needless to say, he left many people confused and

disillusioned when both dates passed without event, even

himself, he was disillusioned and confused because he thought

he had nailed it. And so on and so forth.

Others have done the same thing even up until the end of last

year, predicting this specific and exact time of the Lorde

return. And so the lesson to me is very

clear and should be clear to all of us, that whenever people try

to do what Jesus tells us not to do, it's specifically in saying

this is exactly when Christ is going to return.

It never leads to anything good. It leads to confusion and

embarrassment and hurt. And so now that we've reached

and celebrated the resurrection, you know, we've ended Matthew in

Matthew 28 and we celebrated the Lord in his resurrection, and

he's still alive. And the thing that the church is

waiting for is his glorious return.

What I want to do is I want to circle back and address some

things that we didn't cover as we move through the Gospel of

Matthew before we move into the Psalms in June.

We're going to start our study in book four of the Psalms.

We're going to do a flashback, if you will.

It's one of my favorite parts of movies or books.

When you read something you like, you get to the end of the

movie and you see some favorite scene or you see something that

happened that helps you like put pieces together or like

emphasizes the point. This is one of those moments

where we've seen the resurrection.

We, we know what happens, but now we're going to go back and

see what Jesus has taught regarding his return.

An an anilepsis, that's the fancy word for it in the movies,

an anilepsis. And it may feel strange to do

this, but we want to not go back and pay careful attention for

curiosity's sake. But we want, I want us to study

this because it's for the good of the maturity of our church.

It's good for our faith. And Jesus does not only prepare

his disciples for his death, but he prepares them for the future

to give specific warnings and encouragements about what will

happen after all of these events take place.

And I want us to think carefully as a church about the end of the

age. In the next few weeks, we're

going to talk about the end of the age.

We're going to talk about the mission of the church and why

it's important to be members of a local church engaged in that

mission, waiting for the end of the age.

It's all tied together. And when Jesus speaks about the

future, he does so not to really stir up speculation.

Jesus doesn't want to stir the pot of speculation, but what he

wants to do is He wants to steady our hearts.

Jesus speaks to steady our hearts.

He tells us what to expect, how to live, and what matters most

until he returns. Because this is what He wants us

to, to be prepared for the answers to these questions.

Am I ready for whatever may happen this week?

Am I ready for whatever may happen in the world over the

next 10 years? Am I absolutely certain where my

life will be in eternity? Where will I be in eternity?

The most important question anyone can ever ask, and Jesus's

primary goal in Matthew 24, is not to satisfy our curiosity,

but to prepare us for whatever the future may hold.

We are to be prepared as disciples and also preparing

others as well. Jesus teaches us to hold loosely

to the things that we see and what we have and to be impressed

by the things that we ought to be impressed by.

He says that heaven and earth is going to pass away, but my words

will never pass away. And so Jesus teaches us to keep

our eyes fixed on what matters most and to live with an eternal

perspective, understanding that we don't just live for the here

and now, we're living for an eternity that is ahead of us.

And so like I said, before we leave Matthew behind and we wade

into the Psalms, I want us to sit back with the disciples to

look back and see some of the things that he taught them as he

was going to the cross, things that we didn't get time to

before the Easter season to address.

And I want to hear what Jesus has to say about living

faithfully in the years of head and being very clear about what

Jesus has called us to as his church to believe, to do and

become. So if you're a note taker and

you want to map this out, first we're going to talk in verses,

the first few verses of 2337 through 24.

Two, we're going to see a woe and a wonder, a woe, woe and a

wonder from the disciples and from Jesus and this woe and

wanders for impermanent things. Second, we'll look at the fact

that they raise an important question.

There's an important question they asked Jesus, like when is

this going to happen? That's important.

And then Jesus gives an important answer.

He says you're to be prepared for a few things.

So first let's look at the woe and wonder of impermanent

things. The Jesus is leaving the city.

This is after the triumphal entry and he's leaving the city.

He's clearly saddened that the text reveals in a voice that he

is sad about Jerusalem. Look with me at verse 37 Again

in verse 20, chapter 23, he, he is sad not for himself, but for

the city that he loves. We've already talked about this

and so I don't want to belabor the point, but he tells them

that judgment is coming. Verse 38, your house is going to

be left to you desolate and you're not going to see me until

they say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Jesus came and he left the city and he was not seen or received

by his own people or the world as king.

Jesus is going to come again to that city and it's going to be

unmistakable about who is king. So his first triumphal entry,

he's received by his disciples, but then rejected and and

crucified and murdered and rejected as the king.

But there's going to come a time when Jesus will come back and it

will be unmistakable. Jesus is going to make that very

clear. He's like, yeah, this is not

going to happen again. In Philippians chapter 2, it

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

says that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven

and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That is going to happen. That's what Paul promises.

That's what Jesus promises. And so that is going to happen.

So be, be forewarned that, you know, Jesus comes back and he

will not be rejected again. And so look at verse one.

After a long day, it says that Jesus left the temple.

So he leaves the temple and he's going to the Mount of Olives,

which is down the valley and up the hill.

And it's called the Mount of Olives because it's filled with

olive trees. It's in the olive Grove.

And so it's a big mountain that overlooks Jerusalem.

And so he's leaving the temple and the, and the disciples like,

look at all this stuff. They're they're coming out and,

and they see all around them. They're just basically, you

know, saying, look, hey, check this out.

Isn't this, this is pretty cool. Herod has been take.

It's taken like 40 plus years to build this thing.

It was probably still in construction.

And they're like, this thing's almost done.

Kind of like when you build a house, not many people build

houses, but have you ever had a house built or an addition built

or something like it's almost done.

You're like, this is this is pretty cool.

Look at all this stuff is what the disciples are essentially

saying. And Jesus does not fault them

for that. He doesn't fault them for that

because by all accounts, the temple was amazing to look at.

Let me show you a picture of what the rendering of the, this

is. This is what the Temple Mount

looks like now. All right.

So the, the, the, the, the mosque is right there.

And that's what from the Mount of Olives looking over into

Jerusalem, that's what it looks like now.

This is what the temple probably looked like in the size and

scope of it. Josephus says that this thing

was blazing white covered with gold.

I mean, it it when the sun hit it, it was it was a shining,

spectacular thing to look at and it was massive.

If you if you rewind it again, faith, you can see the

comparison. We'll just flip charts.

See that that now, then, now, then, now, then, now.

No, no, just kidding. The massiveness of that

structure. Now I, I want you to go now and

I want you to see and I want you to make a mental note.

That's the Holy of Holies. The biggest structure there in

the center is, is the Holy of Holies.

It is the, it is the big. That's the temple right there.

All around it is a temple complex.

You see the smoke rising up. That's the altar, immense.

That's where they were burning animals.

That was the altar that they would sacrifice and then the

smoke would rise up. That smoke was going all the

time. And then the high priest could

only go into that beautiful, magnificent building once once a

year for the atomic sins that was all the complex to surround

that one space. And so what's on it now in the

exact same spot? If you go to the picture now, it

is all gone. And there's a mosque right there

intentionally built that's, that is in all of the tombs that are

buried outside of Jerusalem. We'll get to this later.

But all of the tombs was to, to make the surrounding area of

Jerusalem unclean because that's where they would bury the

bodies. And so that was an intentional

thing. So, so all of these disciples

are looking at this complex and they're saying, look at all this

stuff large iconic buildings do that.

They, they tend to draw our eyes upward and fill us with all the

Colosseum, the pyramids, the Great Wall, castles, the vet.

Yes, remember the vet, the twin towers.

The thing that was so shocking about 911 was not only the

carnage, but also that was the icon of New York.

That was the that was the symbol of power and security.

And all of a sudden they're gone.

That's what big buildings do. The temple in Jerusalem carried

an even greater weight than that because it was, it was not just

a magnificent building, it was, it was the presence of God.

That was the permanent presence of God.

It meant that God's dwelling was there.

His protection was there. And whenever God was in the

midst of his people, there was protection, there was presence.

There was a covenant life among his people.

And for many in Jesus's day, it seemed impossible that that

could ever be destroyed. That temple's not going

anywhere. They even said it's taken 43

years, my man Jesus, to build that.

And you say you're going to tear this temple down in three days.

That's one of the things that they used to, to accuse him of

blasphemy at his trial. And we are vulnerable to the

same mistake. We can do the same thing.

We can look at things that are around us and be like, man,

things aren't going to change until they do.

We put our hopes in impermanent things.

We can become so impressed with what's visible, But what Jesus

does is he lifts his disciples eyes.

He says, you see all this. Look at verse 2.

He says, you see all these, you see this, there will not be left

here 1 stone upon another that won't be thrown down.

He even puts in truly. I say to you, that's an that's

an emphasis for him to say I'm telling the truth truly, truly.

I say to you, it's going to happen.

That's a heavy statement. That's a heavy statement.

It's a, it's a whoa. Like you remember I said there's

whoa and whoa. There's whoa, WHOA, like whoa.

And then there's a whoa, WOE, like sad whoa.

This is both. This is like whoa and whoa.

It shocks them. I imagine it silenced them a bit

because it was such a stunning statement.

And they're walking down the Mount of Jerusalem into the

Mount of Olives. And Jesus has said a lot of

enigmatic things that they don't understand, but this one's

probably one that shocks them. And we know this because it

stirs them to pull him aside privately, which leads us to the

second point and a very important question.

The disciples have just kind of like, heard Jesus say, yes, see,

all this going to be torn down. And what he's saying behind that

is like, basically, like, yeah, God, his presence is not going

to be here anymore. Like that's where the temple of

God is like Jesus, can you, can you double click on that a

little bit for us? Can you expand on that?

Tell us verse 3, when, when will these things be?

And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of

the age? Jesus will repeat that actually

in verse 20, chapter 28. Do you remember all authority in

heaven and earth has been given to me.

Therefore now go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son of the Holy

Spirit. And lo, I will be with you to

the what? To the very end of the age.

Matthew is repeating what Jesus has taught, and the end of the

age is something that they're to be prepared for.

Now, not everyone is on the same page regarding the various

distinctions of the when and the what in this passage, because

the when and the what in here. There are lots of thoughts

regarding the meaning of the temple's destruction.

What will happen at the timing of Christ's return?

When will he return? How will he return?

What happens to the church when he returns?

There's charts and books and and and drawings and all sorts of

things. But the majority of, of

theologians and scholars do understand one thing, and we all

agree about this, is that there are two specific events that

Jesus teaches here. It is the destruction of the

temple and his return. And so in Mark chapter 13, verse

Mark 13:4

4, if you read it this afternoon, you'll see that the

disciples questioned there it it relates only to the date of the

destruction of the temple. But what Matthew does is he

expands it and he obviously stitches together things that

Jesus has already taught on. And so Matthew expands it to

cover not only this, the destruction of the temple, but

also the sign of his coming and the closing of the age.

And so this last phrase, the sign of your coming and and of

the end of the age is governed. I will nerd out on you.

But when you look at the language in the Greek, it

indicates that the two are one in the, in the structure of the

sentence. It's it's meant to read is like,

oh, this is one event. The coming or the perusia is the

fancy word for that. And the close of the age are

descriptions of the same event. So these disciples felt that the

sign of Jesus coming and the end of the age, they're like right

around the corner in context. Think about this.

What has just happened? He's gone into the city and

people are claiming he's the Messiah.

He's talked about this being the city that he's coming to be

their king. They think that this is right

around the corner to them, his coming, his presence, him being

the the anointed Messiah meant that it was going to be his

public enthronement as king. He was going to step onto the

throne. He was going to be the Messiah

that would take his rightful place.

And when they thought about the end of the age, they're not

thinking 2000 years. They're not thinking like man,

man, Jesus is teaching us about stuff that's going to happen in

what, like 2 thousand 2526, like 1994.

Like they're not thinking that. They're thinking now this is

going to happen now. That's why you see in the in the

gospels, they're like, should we get our swords now, Jesus?

Like should we should we call Thunder down Lord Jesus, Jesus,

are you going to establish yourself now, Even in Acts

Acts 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 after he ascends, they're like, he's risen from

the grave and Jesus has popped in and out and shown himself to

people and the disciples was like, Hey, Jesus, are you going

to restore the Kingdom now? Is it like go time like this is

pretty amazing. I think we could, I think we

could get a solid social media campaign like there you were.

Now you're not like, let's do this.

Let's let's get this thing rolling.

And Jesus is like, no, no, no, no, no.

Now, first of all, their excitement's not wrong.

They should be anticipating that because they knew that the end

brings what they understood to be Shalom.

It's the repairing of all things.

It's, it's the restoration. We should want Jesus to come

back because he's going to bring everything together in order.

Every single sin and death disharm me.

All of it's going to be disbanded, it's going to be

pushed away, and it will live as hobbits, except without the war.

Do you guys like hobbits? Hobbits living like a Hobbit is

good. You just like you drink ale and

Amy. You play games, you're hanging

out together, you're farming. Life is good.

And in the Shire. Many people fear the future,

though. They're afraid of the future

because they don't know the true and living God.

So the future feels threatening. So these disciples are like,

this is a good thing for the Kingdom of Israel and Jesus,

like it is a good thing when I return.

But that's because they know the promises of the true and the

living God. And not everybody knows the true

promises of the true and living God.

And so the future feels threatening.

We feel world wars upon us, the collapse of governments,

extinction, chaos. There's some kind of dystopian

end. History is moving towards

something that some people fear. The earth is getting too hot,

the earth is getting too cold. We're getting too overpopulated.

We're too underpopulated. There's not enough food.

There's too much food. Like we're scared of the future.

And This is why so much money is made on fortune telling and

predictions and speculative projections.

Even even Christian prophecy publishing think feeds on this

same desire. Tell me what's coming.

Tell me what's going to happen. Like tell me what I should be

afraid of, what is going to happen.

But Jesus, friends, does something completely different

than that. He doesn't feed on the fear.

He doesn't feed speculation. Jesus teaches his disciples in

this passage about the future, not to make them speculative,

but to make them steady. Jesus says essentially be

steady, be steady. He's he's in a sense saying,

you've been around me long enough to know that like what

I'm saying is going to help your hearts be steady.

He gives us markers. Jesus gives us promises, Jesus

gives us warnings and assurances.

And he does not tell us everything we want to know, but

he does tell us what we need to know.

He doesn't tell us everything we want to know, but he does tell

us what we need to know. And so.

There are a few things that we can say with certainty.

Christ will come. Again, history is not random.

Judgement is very real. It is coming.

Salvation is sure for those who belong to Jesus.

But there are a few things that we ought not to say with

certainty because we just don't know.

And Jesus is like, no one really knows the specific times.

But here's a few broad strokes. Here's what's going on in the

world, and here's how you church can be steady.

Living peacefully is a very good thing, and fearing how we are

going to die is a normal thing. And ultimately, however, if we

don't live in peace, and if we do die before the Lord comes,

should those things be taken away from us?

Our peace in this world and our lives in this world, they will

not be taken away from us in the next World.

That's, that's the, that's what Jesus is trying to get his

disciples to look at is what he's getting us to look at.

It's like, I want you to look at a different, a different

horizon. Look at a horizon where you are

with me, with the father in a, in a new place where there is

peace and security and I'm king. I want you to look there because

if you look around right now, all you're going to see is war

and chaos and famine and heartache and pain and sorrow.

And I've come to to make that all right.

But don't focus on the things around.

Focus on the horizon. Because as you move through this

world, it will be hard, but I've overcome this world.

You will make it through. You will make it through.

And so he gives them specific warnings about what it is that

is going to come and that the destruction of the temple where

he starts at is not supposed to send them into a tailspin.

So back to the disciples question, when will these things

be? There's two things that matter

here. First, that history is going

somewhere, somewhere Jesus like history is going somewhere on

purpose. And 2nd, Jesus is speaking in

context about the the judgement of Jerusalem.

So Jesus is not going to be speaking vaguely.

He is preparing his disciples for what's going to happen

according to their question. Their question is the temple is

pretty cool, right? Jesus says, Nope, it's going to

be torn down. And they ask, well, when is that

going to happen? And if that's going to happen,

that must be the sign of the end of the age.

And so are you going to come soon in that?

And if we don't keep that perspective, then this passage

quickly becomes very confusing. It's a confusing passage.

But if, but if you can take the perspective of, OK, Jesus is

asking a specific question and he's answering it.

A specific question is being asked and he's going to answer

it. So let's see what his answer is.

Let's see what his answer is. And we and we keep that

perspective. We hold fast to what's clear in

Scripture. Scripture is not written for us

to be confused. It's it can be confusing, but

it's written to be clear to us so that we might be encouraged

so that we might gain truth. An important answer.

Here's Jesus answer. So the question is in verse 3,

when will these things happen? Here's Jesus answer.

Look at verse 4. Jesus answers them.

Make sure no one leads you astray.

So we're, we're looking back, we're flashback, we know that

he's gone to the cross. We know that he's he's buried.

The disciples at this time don't know that, but but you'll see in

the New Testament that they've, they are now operating out of

this teaching because the resurrection has happened.

And so now they're putting, they put all in the New Testament,

all the gospels and all the epistles, they put the pieces

together. And so we're looking back too.

And Jesus is saying, make sure no one leads you astray.

Many are going to come in my name.

They're not going to be under the authority of the Father.

I'm the Christ, I'm I'm the anointed 1.

So first things Jesus saying here is guys, be wise about who

you believe is your savior. Be wise.

How do you know a counterfeit? You ever touch one of those

bills on the on the boardwalk? You've all done it.

I know it. You're walking at Ocean City, NJ

and you look down, you see what looks like $100 bill.

You reach, you look around, you're like, hey, what is this?

You reach down. You know where this is going,

right? You pick it up and you touch it

and you're like, oh, it's an evangelistic track.

It's the $1,000,000. Do you know what?

Did you guys know what I'm talking about?

You touch, You're like, the moment you touch, you're like,

that's not a real dollar bill. You touch real dollar bills

enough. If you're a waitress or a waiter

or you touch money or not on some job, you know what a

counterfeit bill feels like? Jesus is saying be wise about

who comes in my name. The first Jewish Roman war was

known as the Great Revolt, and it took place between 66 and 73

AD and it was basically a major uprising, a Jewish rebellion in

Judea and the Romans eventually quashed.

That's actually what starts the destruction of Jerusalem in 70

AD. But leading up to that, there

were many nationalistic leaders who said that they were the

zealous ones for God's Kingdom. They were called zealots, of

which some of the disciples in Jesus group were zealots.

Simon the Zealot. They were zealous for the

Kingdom of God. And in Acts chapter 5 and in

Acts 5 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 21, there are few that are mentioned in that text.

Acts 21 · chapter mention

Luke says these are the these are the the men that came and

said that they were going to lead Israel to freedom.

Jesus is saying that's going to happen, don't be deceived.

It's not me guys. You know me, so be wise about

who you let people say they are. Jesus then says be prepared.

Look at verse 6. He says you're going to hear

wars and rumors of wars. Don't be alarmed just because

you hear that there's a war coming.

Just because you see things happening that seem like it's

the end of the age, do not be alarmed, but be prepared.

The end is not yet. The end of this is not yet verse

7 for nation will rise against nation, Kingdom will rise

against Kingdom. There will be famines and there

will be earthquakes, but these are just birth pains.

And, and to note, it's important that in Old Testament prophetic

warnings for cities, they would often use the term birth pains.

Birth pains come and go. They get stronger as they go.

And often what Jesus is doing is he's pointing back to the

prophecies of cities that would be destroyed like Babylon and

Jerusalem, that in that the birth pains are strong and

they're quick and they're repeated.

And Jesus says this is just the beginning of this.

This is the judgment that is to come.

And so Jesus begins with highlighting the primary danger

for them. He says the danger is being LED

astray. Don't be LED astray, walk with

Jesus. If you abide in me, I in my

words, abide in you. You abide in me.

Look the the words of Christ abide in us.

That's how we're not LED astray, friends, if we know the voice of

Christ, Jesus says my sheep know my voice.

When you hear things, they're like, that doesn't sound like

Jesus and it's written in the word.

That's not what Jesus says. Then you know Christ.

That's what it means for him to abide in you.

His word will not lead you astray.

But others will say I've got solutions.

You know, if they're not Jesus solutions, then they're not

solutions at all. Does that make sense?

Do you understand that? And so Jesus says be prepared,

don't be LED astray and and don't jump too hastily to

eschatological conclusions. He's saying don't jump too

quickly, be prepared, but don't jump too quick like this.

The end, the end is coming. Jesus isn't listing signs of the

end, but what he's doing. He's saying, guys, here's some

persons, an event that could probably trouble you and confuse

you, but don't go off the reservation.

Don't just be patient, be prepared for this.

It's just an ordinary part of what's going to unfold

throughout history. And so even as these things have

been evident through history, they were also fulfilled right

after Jesus ascended. Between 30 and 78, these things

happened. There were famines and there

were earthquakes. There were wars.

There were men that came and said they were the Messiah, they

were Christ. You have to understand Jesus was

relatively unknown in the broader area.

Some people like Jesus who like there were people that didn't

know about us, they asked some rabbi got crucified in something

that apparently he rose from the dead.

But there were some people that like Jesus who they didn't know

he was not worldwide famous yet. But what Jesus does now is he

says, look, these things, these are all signs that are

predicting the end and all of Palestine.

This is this is for everyone. He's basically saying this

surrounding area is going to in in encounters things that are

going to look like the end of the age, but it's not.

It's not. This is just a warning about the

destruction of the temple. But then Jesus switches his

focus a little and then he turns to the disciples.

Look at verse 9. He says now in the line he says

then they would, then they will deliver you.

He's looking to the disciples and saying they're going to

deliver you up to tribulation. And while this might be

experienced to future disciples, you have to understand in

context. We're reading a story.

Jesus isn't going to like, he's not looking past the disciples.

Wouldn't it be weird if I was like looking at you and like,

hey, and they're going to, they're going to, they're going

to do stuff to you. He's not looking at you.

He's looking he's they're going to do stuff to you.

Jesus is not looking off into the future.

He's like, no, you right there. I'm, I'm making people

uncomfortable here. There's there's no more people

in the front rows. Holidays, I need people in the

front rows. But This is why, because I look

at people, he's not talking to a future disciples, although

that's true. He's saying, guys, you're going

to be handed over. They're going, you're going to

be hated for my namesake. The immediate context leads us

to stick with the fact that the disciples that he's speaking to

are there in his hearing. They're the ones who are going

to remain as disciples after his ascension into heaven.

They're going to be doing the hard work of evangelism in

Jerusalem. The church is going to be

persecuted by a man named Saul. They're going to put them in

prison. They're going to be rejected.

But eventually that's going to birth the church and it's going

to spread all over. They're scattered in the

persecution of Jerusalem and then they're sent to the rest of

the Roman. Saul becomes Paul and preaches

the gospel to all of the world. Verse 11, he says many false

prophets are going to arise. They're going to come with false

teaching. Do you see that in the New

Testament? Beware of false teaching.

He says. You're going to see that

lawlessness is going to be increased, a love for Jesus and

a love for one another. You're going to see didn't Jesus

warn in the parable was like people are going to receive the

gospel and it's going to look like they're on fire for Christ.

But then when tribulation come, what they die away.

All of the things that Jesus has taught.

He's saying this is going to be your life after I ascend to

heaven. The judgement is coming, but

it's not the end of the age. The judgement on Jerusalem.

Again in context, he's saying Jerusalem, I wish you who had

the God you had the opportunity to be the bearers of good news

to the whole world, but you have you've rejected it.

So now he's teaching his disciples to be the ones who

endure. In verse 13, it says the one who

endures to the end. In other words, when you endure

this initial wave of birth pains, the future birth pains,

you're going to be saved because you're going to hold on to the

truth of the gospel. Do not let go to the gospel

simply because you're going to see armies surrounding

Jerusalem. You need to endure.

Jesus says be faithful, be wise, be prepared, be faithful, do the

work here, the end where it says the one who endures to the end

is not the end, but it's the end to whatever it is we must endure

through. Whether that's a long life

following Christ, a pastor battling for souls of his

countrymen in the heart of Iran, whether it's living in a culture

that is antithetical to the gospel or antagonistic to the

church. This is all normal stuff.

Jesus like this is all normal live faithfully all the way

through endure to the end. He says be at work guys, I need

you to be at work. Be prepared, but also prepare

others and this gospel verse 14 of the Kingdom will be

proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all

nations and then and then the end will come.

And so Jesus here is again, in context, he's not speaking to

the end of the age just yet. He's going to shift and he's

going to talk about that in the next section of the discourse.

But right now he's just talking about what it are, the

implications of the destruction of the temple of God in

Jerusalem, and what is going to happen and what are the signs of

this destruction going to be? And he's just giving it to them.

So you're going to see these things happen.

And he's alluding to a time when Israel's special priority is

going to be over had an opportunity.

And the gospel, which Israel has largely rejected, will be

preached to the world, to the Gentiles.

And the world is this general term of all those who are non

Jews. They would use it as a term for

the Greek world, then for the Roman Empire, and then

subsequently for the whole and then the known world.

And even Paul says that, you know, the gospel is going out to

the whole world and the gospel is being proclaimed to the whole

world because they're free to proclaim it.

Now, this is not an abandonment of the Jewish people.

It's a removal of their special priority.

The temple basically is being removed as a stumbling block.

I would say, I would say that they looked at the temple.

The disciples like, look at this thing.

We are this is incredible. We've got a corner market on

God. But as we've seen in the Gospel

of of Matthew, that they had a very different view of God's

work in the world. They crucified his son.

And now Jesus is saying you no longer have a corner.

I'm the Son, and now I establish my Kennedy.

And so Jew and Gentile. Now the gospel is freely

offered. And where's the temple?

The temple is my people. I will dwell.

My Spirit will dwell on the people.

You do not need to go to Jerusalem to see and meet with

God. You can meet with God in Newtown

Square, PA, right here in this room.

Do you know why? Because His Word is preached and

His Spirit is present. And guess who the gospel is

offered to? It's offered to anyone who would

freely receive it. And so in this first section, we

see that Jesus is preparing his disciples to be steady when

things go awry, When, when they see the destruction of the

temple, that it they're not to panic and they are not to worry,

to be wise. They're to be prepared.

They're to be faithful and they're also to be at work.

And so Christians often ask how, how will we know when all of the

nations have been reached? Like so we've been at work.

And so we're going to see in the next section where Jesus, then

he'll say, he'll turn and say, OK, so now the end of the age,

he's going to say, I've told you about the destruction of the

temple. Now he's going to shift and say

to your second part, the signs of the end of the age, what's

going to happen? He's going to talk about a few

things. But before we move into that, I,

I want you to understand that like Christians will often know

what, when are the signs? I grew up in, I grew up in a

time when I, you know, we were always looking for the

Antichrist and the, and under the rock.

You know, it's like, you know, first it was, it was, it was a

list of people that were Antichrist and when they weren't

the Antichrist and when things didn't happen, they went.

I actually just got frustrated because I, it created an anxiety

amount. I was always looking for the

time like up now. It was a kid growing up in that

and eventually I was like, wait a minute, let let me think this

through what what ought to happen in my heart.

And it just seems pretty clear that Jesus is like what I want

you to do is focus on the work of evangelism and discipleship

and let me deal with the rest. And when I come back, it will be

it will be over. You'll know when it's over when

I come back. And I thought that sounds fair.

George Ladd has a comment and I think summarizes it well and

I'll end with this. He says God alone knows the

definition of terms here. I cannot precisely define who

all the nations are because the promise is that when the gospels

proclaimed to all of the world, then I then the end will come.

The world has heard the gospel. We've we've reached more people

with Christ than anybody in the 1st century did.

But George Ladd says, I only know one thing.

Christ is not yet returned and therefore the task is not yet

done. And when it is done, Christ will

come. Our responsibility as disciples

of Jesus is not to insist on defining the terms.

Our responsibility is to complete the task.

So long as Christ does not return, our work is undone.

And so let us get busy and complete our mission.

My prayer for this church is that that would be our prayer,

that both individually we would be prepared, we'd all be

prepared and preparing others. But as a church, we would

recognize that the work is not yet done.

Until Christ returns, the work is not yet done.

And so we we still have some work to do.

The sermon you've just listened to is a presentation of Church

Newtown Square. To find out more about our

church, check out Church nsq.org, That's CHVRCHNS q.org.

You are welcome to copy and distribute this sermon to others

as long as you do not do it for commercial purposes or alter,

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