Jaw-dropping: Did Jesus Tell The Truth?

hey everybody i'm pastor jeff durbin with apologia church i want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on apologia studios channel uh what you're about to watch is a sermon a message from apologia church's worship service and again i want to thank you all so much for watching for liking for commenting for sharing the sermon itself we truly believe that it's important for the christian church to have an engagement in the public square with the word of god so we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world i just wanted to say something before you actually watch this and that is that i'm not your pastor um though i'd love to be i am not your pastor and um it's very important as you're watching this you know that it's god's design for individual christians to be part of a local christian church under the care of qualified faithful biblical elders and so as much as we love all of you watching these sermons and we're thankful to god that god uses them to bless you to encourage you i do want to encourage you as a minister of the gospel to get plugged into a local body of believers particularly i think important a reformed church would be would be best but we want to encourage you to get plugged into a solid biblical church where you can fellowship where you can worship where you can serve where you can be connected that is vitally important and actually a biblical command and so as much as again as we love for your participation your partnership and we are so thankful to god that he's using these in your lives we want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church you can though actually partner with apology at church as we proclaim the gospel and provide a defense of the biblical gospel all around the world you can do that by going to apologiastudios.com you can partner with us by becoming all access when you do you help to make all this possible and you get all of our tv shows our after shows and apologia academy all of that and you're a part of all that god is doing with us in the world to proclaim herald the gospel of the kingdom you can partner with us and i want to say one last word about that do make sure that none of your giving and partnership towards apologia chirp church interferes with your giving your worship your tithes your offerings to a local body of believers in your area so thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them god bless you if you would open your bibles to the gospel according to matthew gospel according to matthew chapter 24. for those of you guys are new to your bibles that's your first book in your new testament gospel according to matthew chapter 24 as i said before this is the famous section of the olivet discourse it's where the lord jesus has left jerusalem after condemning the leadership in jerusalem indicting them promising them judgment he's gone now to the east towards the mount of olives and there he is now in the mount of olives by the way i've said it many times hope you've caught it it's actually interesting that that's recorded for us that it is on the mount of olives that yahweh taken on flesh gives this indictment in this promise of judgment because in the old testament what preceded the destruction of that first temple was precisely that yahweh's glory departed that temple and rested over on the mount of olives before its judgment and destruction and now yahweh takes on flesh god walks among us and as he indicts face to face the covenant breakers he leaves jerusalem and now he's on the mount of olives that's not an accident of the text that's the same story being played out before us but this is the mount of olives this is the section called known as the great tribulation discussion of the great tribulation and so we're in matthew chapter 24. i want to encourage everybody who's new to apology at church who's watching this right now online across them internets you're going to want to go back and catch all the other ones because i can't go over the same things over and over and over again today we are moving forward into some i think very exciting thing so if some of this seems foreign to you go back and listen to the hours and hours of content matthew chapter 24 starting in verse 1. hear now the words of the living and the true god jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to him i came to point out to him the buildings of the temple but he answered them you see all these these 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 will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age the close 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're 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'll 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'll 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 be increased 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 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's on the house top 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 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 a sabbath as far as the reading of god's holy word let's pray together father i pray that you'd please bless today as we open your holy word this is a gift we recognize that not all people have this special revelation this gift that we hold in our hands right now so lord we humble ourselves before you and we thank you for this gift and we ask that you teach us please lord bless us and i pray that lord what we gain from this study from this word being taught is a fear of you a love for you a devotion towards you and joyful sacrifice and service for you i pray that you would cause this to increase our boldness and our certainty in who jesus truly is the messiah the king of kings and the lord of lords please get me out of the way cause me to decrease christ to increase let everyone forget me and remember jesus it's in his name we pray amen so just that point why are we doing this well we're doing an exposition of the gospel according to matthew verse by verse through the bible we picked matthew because we thought this would be a good way to get a church plant a baby church a full understanding of the old testament along with the new testament going through matthew you get to survey really the whole revelation in some way or another and so but why would we spend so much time here why the great tribulation why so much time why so much emphasis i saw someone this week as we were posting things about going through the great tribulation somebody was like you're still in matthew 24 goodness right and the answer is yes because it's my duty to teach you not entertain you it's my duty to make sure you understand this revelation and not that you guys are just tickled okay why do we spend so much time here well i want to say this there is a website i remember from a long time ago about 20 years ago i was doing ministry and this guy was attacking me and he was like jesus is a false prophet the christian faith is just a lie it's all a fraud there's no basis for it and his main argument against the christian faith was actually a pretty potent one that many christians could not adequately respond to i remember the name of his website i don't even know if it exists anymore i'm going to give him some maybe some platforming right now but it's it was uh jc not for me dot com jc not for me dot com so you at least know where he's at right so jc not for me.com and one of the main thrusts that he had was that jesus christ is a false prophet he's a false prophet on what basis the olivet discourse great tribulation his argument was there's no way out of it texas plains clear if you read it in this original context if you think about the original audience if you apply christian hermeneutical skills and methodology to this text the same methodology you applied to when you get to the trinity and the atonement the resurrection and all the rest he was appealing to all those things when you read this text jesus is a false prophet how do you argue with that well the text says in matthew chapter 24 verse 34 after the discourse jesus says truly i say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place what things well some of them no he says all of these things which generation not that generation that sees these things not this jewish race but it's this gonaia generation same word used throughout matthew to describe the people living at that time and interestingly the early christians there were early christians using this very text to demonstrate as an apologetic that jesus is the messiah think about it in the modern atheists are using a text like this to try to say jesus is a false prophet that he falsely predicted his quote second coming but early on in the church you have christians using these very texts as an apologetic to demonstrate that jesus is the messiah because these things actually happen on time and as plans so what happens i would argue the problem isn't with the text i would argue that the problem is with very very poor christian interpretation of the text that gives to the unbeliever ammunition that they shouldn't have in the first place this text demonstrates without question jesus is the messiah this text should be anticipated the old testament predicted that when messiah came there would be salvation and what judgments salvation and judgment judgment upon the covenant breakers and salvation so when jesus enters into jerusalem they're going to kill him he says he's going to rise again he begins as indictment from chapter 21-24 upon those covenant breakers and that leadership this was anticipated the fall of the jewish temple the destruction of the temple and the judgment upon the covenant breakers is part of the biblical narrative here's the thing if jesus wasn't talking like this we would have every reason to question whether he was truly the anticipated messiah in other words we need all these parts working together is jesus god in the flesh yes how do we know that the bible teaches it where in the old and new testament the old testament isaiah 9 6 through 7 says that it's al gebor coming as a son and as a child the father of eternity the creator is coming as a son and as a child bringing a kingdom that will increase and will never end it says that the one coming to bethlehem and micah 5 2 is god in the flesh but what else does it say isaiah 53 he'd be pierced through for our transgressions crushed for our iniquities the lord is going to lay on him the iniquity of us all by his wounds we're healed where do you get that that's from the old testament that's part of the narrative but here's the thing it's not just his deity it's not just the atonement it's also a very specific narrative about the covenant breakers about what god was going to do to bring judgment upon the covenant breakers as listen he brings salvation to the ends of the earth and you might say to yourself why do i care i'm a 21st century gentile christian most of us right why do i care about this story here's why you should care the reason you and i are in this story now and it's happening now is because god kept these promises of salvation and judgment and the good news of the kingdom being brought now to the ends of the earth that's why this story matters this is god's story he is the master storyteller and it ought to matter somebody might say i don't think this matters i don't think we should concern ourselves with eschatology i want to say try that in a debate with christopher hitchens i had douglas wilson on recently we talked about this in his debate with christopher hitchens at westminster hitchens i think was losing i think badly he lost a lot with wilson and he was not doing well and then i think he used one of his chestnut arguments as a famous chestnut argument and that's what jesus is a false prophet matthew 24 he said all those things were going to happen that generation and doug wilson took his legs off in 60 seconds it was epic how did he do it he showed all this happened it took place exactly on time in his plans precisely as jesus said it and hitchens mouth was shut i want to ask a question how does somebody who is say a brother or sister in christ that holds to dispensational premillennialism how do they answer that question in 60 seconds accurately exegetically faithfully biblically coherently using the same methods and principles they use to get to doctrines like the atonement the resurrection the deity of christ the trinity and all the rest this matters a lot here's what i'm concerned with and i'll say one last thing on this point here and we're going right into this next point in the text here's what i'm concerned with i'm concerned because this text demonstrates that jesus is the messiah it demonstrates that he is the messiah i don't believe that we should be giving this text away to people to use it against jesus to say that he's not the messiah i think what jesus says here in this text is astonishing and i think the historical background in the new testament itself and outside the new testament demonstrates that these things happen on time and as planned and i don't want to give that ground to the unbeliever this demonstrates in a shining way that jesus is owed our allegiance and obedience here's the key they did not believe it they didn't believe it jesus promised them in their generation they were going to see these things before they all died it was coming judgment was coming and they did not accept it they didn't believe it they thought they had more time they didn't believe his message they rejected the son of man coming on time and as planned and they didn't even know the hour of their visitation they did not understand and they perished many times in very miserable terrible terrible ways i'm reminded of this last night i got a message that my tattoo artist in kawaii died unexpectedly i just saw the man i mean fairly recently spent time with him in hours and hours and hours with this guy drilling into my body right so much time with this man and we did talk about jesus i was trying to witness to this man he wasn't an old guy he was actually a really great guy i love spending time with him he's really one of the only guys i would trust now to do that kind of work on me and we spent so much time together and had some pretty deep conversations i talked to him about christ i talked to him about salvation and he was open but sort of yeah i'll get to that uh you know i respect that sure yeah i see what you're saying but i don't know i went to see him when we were there recently just to say hi and check in with him and he was out sick so i got i didn't get a chance to see him face to face i just got word last night that he died unexpectedly this week no one thought it was coming and he just died he's gone he did not understand that at any moment we're gonna face the king of kings it could happen any of us at any time these are serious matters for all of us they are not things to be trifled with when jesus promises salvation and judgment we have to listen and if somebody says why should i listen to jesus why my answer is look at the text look at the text look what god says about the messiah look what jesus fulfills and look what happens to those in history who refuse to obey the message of the son of man all of us are a moment away from eternity and i promise you this with all my heart i am not trying to scare you into eternity i'm just trying to be as honest and as faithful as an image-bearer of god and a servant of jesus that i possibly can we all have to face jesus who is he to you is he savior is he the lord is he the one you bowed the knee to who is jesus to you because none of us are promised tomorrow amen let's do it so matthew chapter 24 jesus again leaves the mount of olives and now the question is what help me here guys is the question about the end of the cosmos it is not about the end of the physical world the context 24 21-24 is jerusalem the indictments are upon the jewish leadership the indictments are upon the covenant breakers the promises keep coming towards them what's going to happen to them all the blood of the righteous upon you upon this generation jerusalem jerusalem your house is left to you desolate temple being taken apart not one stone upon another and they say wait what's the sign of your coming in the end of the age what age the jewish age the old covenant age the old testament breaks things into two sections the old covenant and the time of the messiah or the new covenant two ages they hear jesus saying that magnificent glorious temple is going to be dismantled not one stone upon another and they immediately say what's the sign of your coming in the end of the age not the end of the physical cosmos not the end of the physical world there is no conversation here about the end of the physical world it is about the jewish temple and the old covenant age so jesus tells them what see to it that no one misleads you or to lead you astray for many will come in my name saying i'm the christ they'll be lead many astray you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars see to it that you're not alarmed for this must take place but the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation kingdom against kingdom famines earthquakes and various places and all these are by the beginning of the birth pains hold that together in your minds for a moment war famines all these things hold it together because at the end of the sermon i'm going to bring it back to you with eusebius one of the early church bishops and fathers and historians now we talked last week and i'm not going to do a review of last week you got to go get it yourselves about the fact that in the new testament itself we have evidence that there were false christs attempting to lead many people astray there's historical evidence for this outside of the new testament we talked about acts 8 9-10 we talked about the fact that there's the pax romana at this time that's the peace of rome this is where rome essentially was trying to enforce or guard peace i talked about the fact that it wouldn't be impressive today if as a christian pretending to be a prophet in the 21st century in 2019 if i said i have a prediction there's going to be wars and rumors of wars in the next 20 or 30 or 40 years nobody's impressed by that because there are constantly wars it's not impressive it is however impressive for jesus to be saying it during the pax romano so he does and there were wars throughout that generation wars in rome palestine galilee samaria we talked about in 40 a.d mesopotamia 50 000 died 20 000 in caesarea 49 a.d jerusalem approximately 20 000 died on and on we can show that there were wars and rumors of wars and josephus actually says a first century historian that it seemed at one point like the entire world was fighting with each other it's like the whole world was at war with each other at one point during that generation we also talked about the fact that there were intense famines during this time period in generation it's actually there's actually a name a named moment here in acts 11 28. there are famous famines mentioned by josephus and eusebius more famines mentioned by tacitus and eusebius in the 10th or 11th year of claudius we talked about pestilence throughout that time period 48d at babylon 60 a.d in rome we talked about earthquakes throughout the period we talked about earthquakes recorded in the new testament itself what's the first earthquake after this recorded at the crucifixion then where the resurrection then in the book of acts throughout the period one of the largest recorded earthquakes in that time period is from 62 a.d in pompeii february 5th it leveled the area and destroyed many lives we talked about the persecution throughout the new testament itself this is key jesus promises to his followers being delivered over to councils and synagogues do you see the jewish context any you guys plan on any persecution or being delivered over to the local synagogue right so you see the very local context of this very jewish context being delivered over persecution you see throughout the new testament record the book of acts very intense persecution of the early disciples as a matter of fact who do you see throughout the book of acts as the pro the the primary antagonist towards the spread of the gospel and the christian faith in the first century as the church is getting off the ground who is it it's the covenant-breaking jews those who are opposed to the message of the messiah they're taking oaths to kill paul and not to even eat until he's dead paul talks about the persecution in his own writings he says what we mentioned it last week he's in danger constantly from what his own countrymen what's that jews who else false brethren he says he's been shipwrecked right a drifted sea he calls it a light momentary affliction we also know that in the first century during the sixties listen closely we have records earlier in the fifties of riots breaking out because of christ crisis that over christ the issue of christ we see the jews being expelled from rome why because of riots over jesus and the christian message but in the 60s we see that rome ultimately turns on the christians and now rome puts their sights on the early christians nero pursues violently the early christians he goes after paul he goes after peter we have paul's head cut off you have all the apostles martyred save one apostle um you have the fact that the early christians were actually rounded up in the streets by nero tied to his st to stakes during his garden party so he'd ride his chariot through them they'd wrap them in pitch set them on fire as roman candles i mentioned the fact that nero was a beast a despicable disgusting man he actually married a ten-year-old boy and castrated him he kicked his pregnant wife to death he actually tied christians to the state covered himself in animal skins and tried to eat them he was a beast a disgraceful evil evil man he actually persecuted christians in history forget this 42 months which is precisely the amount of time that the apostle john predicts that he would actually come after the christians the beast of revelation that's my reading of revelation but we see that throughout the new testament here's the key as we go further we see that we're promised they're going to deliver you in verse 9 up to tribulation we do see that they're going to put you to death in verse 9. we do see that now verse 10 read this in verse 10 the text says and then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another and many false prophets will arise and lead many astray of falling away betrayal hating one another well i want to encourage you to consider that you you know this brothers and sisters we've read this in our new testament you don't have to necessarily go out to external historical sources to read that what jesus predicted here actually came true very clearly came true we can look in the new testament record itself this is by no means exhaustive but you know these you know these verses if you read in the new testament you'll see in the book of galatians i am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of christ for a different gospel which is really not another only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of christ that's early on in the christian experience and the propagation of the gospel paul's warning them about abandoning the true gospel for another one that's apostasy paul says again but it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in christ jesus in order to bring us into bondage this is in the book of galatians more in first timothy chapter 1 verses 18 through 19 paul says to timothy this command i entrust to you timothy my son in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them you fight the good fights keeping faith and a good conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith you also see more and again this is not an exhaustive list brothers and sisters but in the book of hebrews that's what the book is about i highly encourage everybody go and get the sermon audio series that pastor james did on sermon audio in the book of hebrews you must get that series but one of the things i want to point you to is in the book of hebrews the context what's going on what's happening in the book of hebrews is the early jewish christians are being warned do not go back to temple and do the sacrifices jesus is a better prophet he is a better priest he is a better king he is a better mediator don't go back he gave the once for all sacrifice why are you going back to remember these things annually constantly it's a once for all sacrifice it's over and how does the book of hebrews end commentary commentators are agreed on this the book of hebrews ends with a warning it's written before the destruction of jerusalem and it ends with a warning that god is about to destroy this he's about to destroy all these things which can be shaken so that the things which cannot be shaken will remain therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken that's the context this stuff this earthly stuff the temple the priesthood all this gold the fixtures the stones it's about to be taken down and the warning of the book of hebrews is do not go back why because people are going back here's what it says in hebrews chapter 6 for in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the holy spirit and have tasted the good word of god and the powers of the age to come they've tasted it right we've got the old covenant age hanging out about to be destroyed the new covenant age brought in right there's this overlap period right the passing off of the baton the old covenant age is defunct at the cross but it's still standing around the edifice is still there and the messianic age has already been brought in with messiah and his sacrifice and his salvation but it says the good word of god and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucified themselves the son of god and put him to open shame who's this talking about people who have apostatized and fallen away from the faith before the destruction of jerusalem and are saying everyone come back guys come on now i know it sounded good and all i know jesus it sounded like a good story but come on come back to temple come back to the priesthood come back come back let's leave it all behind us just come back don't follow this jesus character i mean come on where is he they you promised that this thing was going to be destroyed that jesus is going to come back and destroy all these things it's all going to be destroyed and where is he huh where is he where is he at and the writer of hebrews says in a little while in just a little while and what it says here also is the book of hebrews for if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth there's no longer remains a sacrifice for sins and then here's the famous one you already know this one first john 2 19 they went out from us but they were not really of us for if they had been of us they would not they would have remained with us but they went out so that it would be shown that they are all not of us and one more jude verses three through four beloved while i was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation i felt the necessity to write to you appealing as you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints for certain persons have crept in unnoticed those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation ungodly persons who turn the grace of our god into licentiousness and deny our only master and lord jesus christ here's my points jesus promised that before that generation had all passed away all these things contains this promise that they'd be delivered over to tribulation and death that many would fall away and betray one another and hate one another and many false prophets would arise and leave many astray we demonstrated that all that occurred before that generation had all passed away good yes amen next piece verse 13 the one who endures to the end will be saved this has caused a few people concerned why because salvation is a gift of god amen who keeps us god who's responsible for saving us god who started this process of salvation god who saved us at the cross god did who keeps us and preserves us to the ends say it god is it us no it's all god it's all to his glory every bit of it including my repentance and my faith it's all a gift of god and so we see a verse like this and someone rips it out of context and throws it at us and we say salvation's a gift of god from all eternity he says truly truly i say to you he who hears my voice and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but is passed out of death into what life that's eternal life as a gift jesus promises it so what's this text here about the one enduring to the end will be saved well this is where we need to learn to read the verses above and below amen yes i was listening to a great debate recently between a christian and an atheist and the atheists dan barker actually tried to whip out a verse out of context he's like well what do you have to say about that and the christians said well jesus was expecting the people who read that verse to read the ones above and below i love that in this verse here when someone says the one who endures to the end shall be saved here's my question um where's the conversation in here about justification through faith alone how we're reconciled to god how we have peace with god where's the conversation here if we apply sound hermeneutical and exegetical principles like let the text speak i want to ask the question where's the discussion in here about justification through faith and atonement and how we have peace with god there's a pretty elaborate discussion on that in say the book of romans systematically chapters one through five go read it very systematic very precise by divine inspiration an apostle but we have one verse here that says the one who endures to the end shall be saved my question is this what's the end discussed in the passage there's another end mentioned it's the end of the what age not the end of the what world but the end of the age the one who endures to the end will be saved well i want to actually argue that context isn't here salvific it has to do with the destruction of jerusalem and i want to say that a good translation and it's done say in other translations is the one who endures to the end will be delivered delivered from what all this destruction what's promised here right after this is how to actually escape the tribulation it's local those who are in judea flee where to the mountains to the hills you can escape this judgment it's a local judgment and the one who endures to the end will be delivered i want to point you also to that context end of what not the world end of the age when were these things supposed to be happening before that generation passed away i want to argue that you can definitely translate this as delivered but i'm going to point you to this even if we were to argue from this premise that the one who endures to the end will be saved i want to argue that that fits with biblical theology or soteriology in this way help me with this one and we're going to go right past this one in john chapter 6 and john chapter 10 the lord of glory himself defines for us how he saves people who he saves and what's going to actually be accomplished in their lives jesus says this in john 6 go read it later i've come down from heaven not to do my will but the will of him who has sent me and this is the will of him who has sent me that of all that he has given me i should lose nothing i should lose nothing of all that the father has given to me jesus says no man can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and here's what he says about the one the father draws and he says no man can come to me unless the father sammy draws him and he says and i will raise him up i will raise who up the one the father draws so what does jesus say about salvation and his people he'll never lose them and what does he say in john 10 that he knows his sheep and they know him and he gives his life for them he gives them eternal life and he says they're in his hands and nobody can snatch them from his hand and they're in his father's hands and nobody snatching them from his father's hands it's a double-fisted grip of the father and the son i think you're safe and if you've been justified declared righteous by the thrice holy god who keeps his word and does not change and cannot lie then that means you have peace with god eternal life and god has saved you and god will keep you so the one who endures to the end will be saved so teriologically if you're reformed y'all next verse 14. here we go verse 14. i know what happens here and this is what always happens in matthew 24 you ready for this here's what always happens somebody goes i see all that pastor jeff i see it i see this generation i can't get out of that i see it's local judea mountains jerusalem your house desolate i see truly i say to you this generation will not pass away till all these things i see it i see it i see it here's where i've got you i've got you where it says and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come gotcha done how's your interpretation work with that well i want to argue that we should be reading our bible in its context would you agree yes do we have a right to go to the bible and be and start imposing the standards of 2019 gentile christians in north america into the text or should we read the bible in its own context with its own definition in its own language someone says gotcha there's no way that this fits before 70 a.d the whole world the gospel preached to the whole world well i want to argue well someone should tell that to the apostle paul because in romans go there see it with your own eyes don't take my word for it in romans chapter one starting in verse five i'll start reading the apostle paul says before the destruction of jerusalem through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations including you who are called to belong to jesus christ hashtag calvinism next to all those in rome who are loved by god and called to be saints grace to you and peace from god our father and the lord jesus christ first i thank my god through jesus christ for all of you because your faith is proclaimed in all the worlds your faith is being proclaimed in all the world what's the context of the first century itself these are residents occupiers of the first century the known world the entire oikumi the roman empire the known world the gospel had broke forth after the miracle of pentecost all over the roman empire and paul says before the destruction of jerusalem through divine inspiration according to their language their definitions your faith is being proclaimed where in the whole world it might be saying pastor jeff i get it but that's maybe a little weak do you have more the answer is i'm glad you asked yes colossians chapter one colossians chapter one i'll start reading in verse 15 so you guys can get there he is the image of the invisible god by the way uh just a note this was written before the destruction of jerusalem he is the image of the invisible god the firstborn of all creation for by him that's jesus all things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together and he is the head of the body the church he is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent for in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of his cross hashtag that postmail next and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which i paul became a minister so when the lord jesus uses language that the gospel of the kingdom we proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations through divine inspiration the apostle says it was it was next we need to consider the bible in its context and language for example when you look at a text like this the gospel he proclaimed gospel the kingdom proclaimed in all the world is a testimony we need to consider the bible in its own context its own language and not impose ours upon it that's not how you do proper exegesis so for example this happens a lot just a quick side note we've talked about this before but i think it's vital somebody sees all these things have to take place before that generation passes away and then they say yes but how do we have the sun being darkened the moon not giving its light and the stars falling from heaven how did that happen before 70 a.d or how does that work well brothers and sisters this goes down to interpreting the bible biblically you see here's the key watch it's not a question of whether whether we interpret the bible figuratively or literally it's a question of whether we do it biblically biblically not figurative versus literal but biblical for example when i see jesus saying here in this text the sun is going to be dark and the moon turned to blood the stars are going to fall from the heavens my mind immediately goes back to what god said in isaiah 13. when he talks in isaiah 13 long before the time of jesus about taking down a pagan nation he threatens them with exactly this terminology and brothers and sisters he destroyed that nation did the stars literally fall from the heavens and literally strike the earth brothers and sisters think about it literally if our star our sun got a little bit closer we'd be in big trouble and climate change would be a real thing we need to consider when jesus says then the end will come what is the context brothers and sisters let the text speak then the end of what will come the end of the what of the age no discussion here about the end of the physical cosmos it's the end of the old covenant age tied together with the jewish temple next are you ready for this i'm going to do this listen because of the time i'm listen i even asked this week for some help and some guidance on how to do this in a way to bless my church that i'm called to shepherd so that i can make sure that i give you the most that i can in a bird's eye view and one sermon and i want to do this in a way that helps you encourages you challenges you but it's a bird's-eye view for today so you ready for this yes are you with me i'm i'm telling you now that i'm going to blitz you today please don't expect me to fully unpack daniel 70 weeks right now that could be done over six months and guess what we might do that and i'm just joking i'm teasing okay well i'm just gonna give you a bird's eye view because watch jesus says watch here verse 15 he says 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 jesus warns his people if look if you're on a housetop like look go get out this abomination of desolation when you see it get out of the city flee if you're in judea flee to the mountains get away don't go back grab your cloak don't do that look if you're pregnant or nursing like if this is a big deal pray that it's not on the sabbath brothers and sisters jewish context local context sabbath judea hills amen yes see how local it is do you see how jewish this judgment is but jesus says to them when they see that abomination of desolation flee quick thing number one if you're taking notes obviously daniel is the key jesus tells us which book to go research to understand this daniel is not a large book 12 chapters not difficult you can read through daniel i'm not saying you're going to fully understand it there's a lot of amazing things in daniel but you know where to go jesus says it's in daniel number one next if you're taking notes number two this is clearly local it's clearly local a 23 2335 all the blood of the righteous this generation b 2336 upon this generation c 2337 jerusalem jerusalem d 2338 your house is left to you listen desolate e 24 1-2 it's about the temple's destruction f 2416 those in judea g 24 16 you can escape flee to the mountains h 2420 it's clearly a jewish context sabbath and finally let's read verse 34. truly i say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place which things are contained in the all the abomination of desolation so the question is what's in daniel okay so again bird's eye view all right daniel chapter 2 go there quickly old testament not too far back daniel chapter two just a smattering today bird's eye view in terms of what does daniel talk about daniel 2 talks about a vision really amazing vision and here's a summary quick thing again bird's eye view today right there's four kingdoms described in this vision how many kingdoms four which kingdom is daniel speaking from the babylonian kingdom so we've got babylon and then three more kingdoms after that and historically we know what those are and it lands on which one rome so he speaks from babylon the vision is four kingdoms the final kingdom is rome and hears watch through divine inspiration what is said about the time of the fourth kingdom which we know historically is rome this is what it says in daniel chapter 2 verse 44 and in the days of those kings the god of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed nor shall the kingdom be left to another people it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand and that it broke in pieces the iron the bronze the clay the silver and the gold a great god is made known to the king what shall be after this the dream is certain and its interpretation is sure how many kingdoms four during the fourth kingdom god himself said to the kingdom that will never be destroyed what were the first words in matthew's gospel in chapter 3 by john the baptist repent for the kingdom of heaven is what at hands what is jesus preaching as soon as he comes out of the wilderness his temptation satan says i'll give you all the kingdoms of this world if you bow down and worship me and jesus says what you shall worship the lord your god and him only shall you serve why is satan offering jesus all the kingdoms of the world because that's what he came for and jesus comes out of the wilderness it says in matthew 4 proclaiming the good news of the kingdom daniel says fourth kingdom god sets it up during that time rome jesus did that's amazing daniel chapter 7 again bird's eye view 7 13-14 here's the vision now watch this is key watch if you are leaving come back remember i told you reading the bible in its context sun darken moon to blood stars falling from the heavens we go and then we listen to guys talking about blood moons blood moons and buying these like these these kits right buckets to eat in and poop in like that's what uh jim baker says literally i'm not being foul that's what he's selling because of matthew 24. tons of stuff based upon this text now people sell books called blood moon stars right and we go wait wait wait the bible uses that language in isaiah 13 isaiah 34 to talk about the destruction of a pagan nation that's judgment talk that's dramatic prophetic hyperbole god uses throughout the old testament to talk about turning their world upside down and then he does it but another example is someone says well hey in matthew 24 it talks about the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven it sure does and where's that come from daniel 7 13-14 here's the vision of daniel i saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man and he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory and the kingdom that all peoples nations and languages should serve him his dominion as an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away shall not pass away and his kingdom won that shall not be destroyed daniel gets a vision of the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven wait a second this is where we see the divine son of man because who else comes on the clouds of heaven in the old testament yahweh isaiah 19 1 it says that god comes riding yahweh comes riding on a swift cloud against egypt and the hearts of the egyptians melt within them that's yahweh writing on a cloud now we have the divine son of man coming on the clouds of heaven coming up to the ancient of days and given a kingdom dominion that everyone should serve jesus brothers and sisters quick question which direction did jesus go you can say don't be afraid i will not hurt you which way did he go he came up now what was jesus what were those last words all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of what all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit teaching them to observe all that i have commanded you as jesus goes up what does he tell his people to do go win the world for me what's the vision of the son of man up to the ancient of days given a kingdom on his throne are you guys seeing it are you seeing it i hope so next daniel 9. just take a peek in daniel chapter 9 i'm going to point you to verse 24. and i'm just going to run through here and show you some key parts i do have a study on this i did many years ago at apologia church i'll try to find it and put it up for everybody also um one of my good friends did an amazing study i'll put up this week for everybody in the church page 70 weeks are decreed about your people in your holy city this is daniel now agonizing in prayer and the angel gabriel a very reliable angel comes and tells them about the 70 weeks prophecy now i want you to remember now listen please listen to the timing and the details this is so incredible i'm going to tell you a story in a second that i'll never forget when daniel says this here or when he's given this revelation the jewish temple is destroyed there isn't one did you get it babylon captivity exile jewish temple's gone daniel's and agony his people are being punished they're sinful they've sinned with a high hand against god and daniel is pleading with god the angel comes and the angel says 70 weeks are decreed about your people your holy city what for here is what you need to hear and it's amazing here's the point of the 70 weeks prophecy no matter how you interpret it you have to hear this this is the point remember where we're at in history exile captivity babylon temple destroyed he's in agony we've sinned against god help us god and then what happens is the angel says here's the point to finish the transgression to make an end of sin to put an end to sin to listen watch a tone for iniquity to bring in everlasting righteousness to seal both vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy so here's the purpose of the 70 weeks prophecy now i'll just throw this again bird's eye view 490 years it's 70 weeks of seven each day represents a year multiplying it they're being told how many years are left before we make an end of sin atonement for iniquity everlasting righteousness seal both vision and profit all those things are contained in this prophecy of 490 years daniel is told when he can start counting down now we don't have time today again to do all the details but i would actually argue i would argue that if you count down the days it lands on jesus baptism which gives us the last week of seven years just hold that in your minds for a second again this is not an attempt to explain the whole thing today but stay with me here in terms of what's vital in this prophecy it says verse 25 no therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build jerusalem to the coming of messiah a prince there shall be seven weeks now watch this is daniel being told when to start counting down when to start counting and when you can start counting down from a decree to restore and rebuild jerusalem until the messiah it says then for 62 weeks it should be built again with squares and moat and buddy but in troubled time and after the 62 weeks messiah shall be cut off and shall have nothing now the word there cut off is a word used to describe a violent death so here's the point again bird's eye view the prophecy is about atonement the prophecy is about everlasting righteousness the prophecy is putting an end to sin to finish the transgression to bring the jewish sin to its ultimate climax i would argue in the murder of the messiah but you're told when to start counting and it lands on jesus now here's what's amazing it says the messiah will be cut off and have nothing and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary come with me now if you're holding it together in your minds is there a temple when daniel's writing this where are the jews babylon in captivity exile no temple no sanctuary this is now gone but he's being told messiah the prince is coming he's going to be cut off and then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city in the sanctuary well hey daniel city and sanctuary is gone what are you talking about here's a prediction of a rebuilt temple that's going to be destroyed after the messiah dies of violent death is that incredible brothers and sisters this is the word of god are you kidding me atheists are like where's your evidence for god hey fool have you chased a chick-fil-a's chicken sandwich and then have you read daniel 9 that's all i have to say so some of you guys have heard this but for those who haven't i'm going to just do a quick thing to show you here how this was used years and years ago i saw a jewish newspaper in scottsdale and it had an advertisement for jews against jesus they were doing a seminar and how we know jesus isn't the messiah and i was excited because i'm a jew right i'm a spiritual jew i've been grafted in so these are my people shalom so i go and it was exciting i go to the synagogue i got to wear the yarmulke it was awesome i went with a couple friends and we were the only people there that had our bibles that's the first thing we noted we were the only ones there with bibles i'll say it again we were the only ones there with our bibles and everybody was eyeballing the christians and looking at our bibles because we're holding what do you got that in what are you doing with the bible in the synagogue and so this rabbi goes to the front he spoke for about two hours he had the whole get up he looked like you would imagine a pharisee and you know the things and very modest yahoo and when he finished it was perplexing because he didn't deal with any of the verses that christians historically would use to demonstrate from the torah on the tanakh that jesus is in fact the messiah so when he was finished i very respectfully walked down the aisle to the front and at this moment that we walked up there with my friends in my bible this rabbis in front we were immediately surrounded the whole place was waiting for this moment to go down and you saw everybody in there they were ready for the rabbi to take down this young christian boy i was maybe 21 22 years old at the time and everybody there just round this like this delicious wonderful are you ready for this get ready right and i am there in front of him i said rabbi i want to thank you so much for allowing us to sit through this thank you for spending the time i said but i am curious how come you didn't deal with any of the prophecies from the torah and the tanakh that christians historically have appealed to to show that jesus is in fact mashiach how come he said well young man i dealt with all of them i said rabbi you didn't deal with one that i would appeal to and he says okay which one and at that moment everyone is this is so amazing get ready for this moment the rabbi versus the christian let's do it i said well i don't know i how about daniel chapter nine he said okay what about it i said well in daniel chapter nine the prophecy clearly says whatever your interpretation of the seventy weeks that the messiah comes and is cut off before the destruction of the second temple say that again it says the messiah comes and he's cut off before the destruction of the second temple i said rabbi when was the temple destroyed he said well young man everybody knows the temple was destroyed in 70 a.d i said okay rabbi if jesus isn't mashiach who is and he takes my bible he didn't have one and he starts looking through and he goes and everyone's looking at him looking at me looking at him and they're delighted and excited and he's he goes i'll tell you what um give me your email address i'll get back to you he never did get back to me but brothers and sisters the text that talks about the desolation of the temple the city the sanctuary the text shows the messiah comes is cut off and then the sanctuary is destroyed and watch this final thing here in terms of well how can it say the people of the prince who was to come who's the only prince mentioned in the text messiah the prince there's no antichrist figure in this text none neither is there a gap in this text that is imposed upon the text it says messiah the prince and it says the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and somebody says pastor jeff that's confusing if messiah is the prince how is the roman armies how are the roman armies the armies of the messiah the prince well that's commonly used throughout the bible in isaiah chapter 10 assyria a pagan nation is called the rod of gods the rod of god's anger the rod of god's anger assyria a pagan nation he's using a pagan army as his army to destroy oh his covenant-breaking people to punish them god calls a pagan nation his punishing rod against the covenant-breaking people it's not uncommon for god to call a pagan army his army when he destroys the covenant breakers further in matthew 22 jesus gives the parable of the king and the wedding feast and he says the king becomes enraged and he sends his armies to destroy their city well who are the armies that are sent the roman armies so the people of the prince who is to come make sense in the text and again i can't do the whole text with you but i hope it gives you a little detail in terms of the desolation promised the city and the sanctuary the cutting off of the messiah but let me just end it with this i think a better thing to do would be this and we're ending on this two points one just read luke 21 20. mark it down when luke illustrates this part what luke says is he says this when you see jerusalem surrounded by armies flee you see matthew says when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the end of the prophet let the reader understand then flee those in judea flee to the mountains luke 21 little different luke says when you see jerusalem surrounded by armies flee next i want to read to you a section and we're ending on this from eusebius an early church father a bishop from the fourth century he's also a historian and he recorded this section in chapter five the last siege of the jews after christ now listen closely if you've been following everything i've been saying to this point and you've heard about daniel you've heard about the false christ the false messiahs the famines the wars you've heard about jesus and the abomination of desolation you've heard about the warning about those in judea fleeing to the mountains don't go back and take your cloak jesus warned his people before the destruction of jerusalem to flee when they saw it at least surrounded by armies here's what eusebius does in the fourth century as a christian pastor and historian here's what he records but the people of the church in jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation vouchsafed to approved men there before the war to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of perea called pella and when those that believed in christ had come there from jerusalem then as if the royal city of the jews and the whole land of judea were entirely destitute of holy men the judgment of god at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against christ and his apostles and listened to the words and totally destroyed that generation of impious men brothers and sisters here is a fourth century christian pastor using matthew 24 and that warning as evidence of jesus as the messiah here is a fourth century christian pastor and historian saying listen the people of the church in jerusalem have been commanded by revelation to flee the city brothers and sisters do you know of any revelation in holy scripture where jesus warned the people of god in jerusalem to flee the city to the mountains anywhere you can think of how about matthew 24 and you know what's amazing that i love you see in the book of acts it says that the early christians in jerusalem are doing what with their stuff they're selling their stuff and lands why are christians in jerusalem in the book of acts just selling their land in jerusalem why because that wasn't good land to hold on to no more why they were told it was about to be destroyed by the way how many christian communes and weird socialist communities have been created off of a bad interpretation of those texts and acts like look at the early christians bro they're selling all their property and just distributing one to another no one owns anything bro right like people have really done that context context context why were the christians in jerusalem selling property in jerusalem because it's about to be destroyed everybody and don't you love that you have a matter of record in history and this is what's praiseworthy listen closely this that jesus loves his people he protected them and he warned them when you see jerusalem surrounded by armies flee and what did they do as a matter of record in history brothers and sisters listen the roman armies as a matter of record came surrounded jerusalem in the city war was breaking out and then all of a sudden really we don't really understand exactly why there's different theories as to why but all of a sudden the roman armies backed away from the city and started heading back and do you know who fled the city the christians fled to a town called pella so brothers and sisters who were the ones who were delivered from the destruction of jerusalem the christians as a matter of historic record and why because jesus warned them on the mount of olives about the great tribulation that was going to fall on that generation here's the key jesus is god in the flesh jesus was promised to be the one to bring salvation and judgment jesus promised that generation they wouldn't pass away until all these things took place he told them their temple was left desolate to them and he said there wouldn't be left one stone upon another and that was literally true by 70 a.d god's word is true amen yes so here's the call of the gospel repent and believe in the good news jesus is the king of kings he is reigning on his throne you better repent and believe in a hurry he's come to win the world to himself he is making all things new you're a sinner god is holy jesus is perfect and righteous who died for sinners and he rose again victoriously from the dead he is on his throne reigning and ruling and he calls you to bow your knee and kiss the son amen let's pray father i pray that you bless the word that went out today for the glory of jesus please lord help us with what we've learned to not merely have this in our minds as intellectual gymnastics or moments of gotcha but help us to have reverence for your word in respect to the olivet discourse that you kept your promises and your word is true in jesus name we pray amen

Channel: Apologia Studios

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Keywords: jeff durbin, apologia studios, apologia church, best sermons, sermon that schocked, paul washer sermon, youth sermon, great tribulation, end times sermon, rapture, 7 years of tribulation, post tribulation steven anderson, steven anderson tribulation, john hagee blood moon, left behind, jeff durbin sermon

Id: 4KMQoKhAJNE

Length: 73min 22sec (4402 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 11 2019