Jesus and End Times (GCBI 108.08)

the stage is this we know that Jesus is in Jerusalem for his final week of ministry and so he is going in and out of the temple lecturing during what was by far the busiest time of the year to be in Jerusalem and to be at the temple so I want you to imagine Times Square at New Year's Eve I mean that's a bit of an exaggeration but this is a big time it as far as a crowd of people this is the biggest crowd of people that these people are ever going to see obviously it's much smaller than Times Square at New Year's Eve but that's that's the kind of image that that the the Jerusalem at the time of Passover is in the minds of a Jew and so they are going in and out of the temple he's preaching and then one day it records that as they're going out of the temple the disciples make a comment about the architecture of the temple and that's where we pick up chapter 24 okay so I want you to look at chapter 24 verse 1 and we're going to see what he says says Jesus left the temple and was walking away with his disciples when he came to him when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to the buildings do you see all these things he asked truly I say to you not one stone here will be left on another everyone will be thrown down as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately tell us they said when will this happen and what will be the sign of the of your coming and then the end of the age and jesus answered watch out that no one deceives you for many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah and he will deceive many you will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed such things must happen but the end is still to come nation will rise against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places all of these are the beginning of birth pains so this is a pretty familiar passage in 1969 John Fogerty went to a rerun of the 1941 movie called the devil and Daniel Webster partway through the movie he was mesmerized by a scene of an approaching hurricane and the powerful imagery in his mind after the stuck in his mind after the movie was over a song began to form in his head and Fogerty went home over the next few days and wrote bad moon rising a song that became a top single in 1969 and Creedence Clearwater Revival of course popularized it with their recording later that year which according to Rolling Stone magazine is number thirty-three hundred and sixty-four of the 500 greatest songs of all time so what we have is this he gives this moment right he explains that there is a storm coming and and it's going to be a devastating one and and this is really the theme of this last sermon of Jesus's and it all stems from this one question what was the question they asked he says what would be the sign of your coming when will this happen what will be the sign of your coming and the end and the sign of the end of the age so it's a pretty specific message to Jesus of Jesus to the Jews for a time in their future but the principles of course extend to all of us the key principle for chapter 24 from the GCB I notes is that the inoculation for deception is knowledge of the truth the the way to beat confusion about end times is to know what the Bible says about it now of course that's a broad principle that can be applied to all of life if you want to be sure that you're not going to be deceived spend lots of time learning that which is true it's the it's the example I think we use all the time around here if you if you're going to become people people who are trained to find counterfeit bills don't study all the different types of counterfeit bills rather they study the real bill they look at the real thing so that when they see a counterfeit they know that it's a counterfeit because it doesn't match the real thing notice there are a couple of things we're going to look at this look at this pass is pretty in-depth and in chapter 24 really holds most of the prophecy that we're going to find and most of the foretelling of future things and then 25 illustrates them with a couple of stories in chapter 4 we see that there's there as far as the answer to the question what is going to happen at the beginning of the end times chapter verse 4 says that there will be a powerful attempt at deception where people would become misled so a brief answer to the question of what are the beginning of the signs of the times one of the first things you should write down is deception that deception is going to be rampant the second thing in verse 5 is that there will be heavy doses of information that lead to fear that there's going to be more and more talk about things that are going to cause anxiety in the hearts of people and then number 6 there will be dread over constant ethnic strife it says that nations will rise against nation the the original word is ethnos its people it's not just nations it's people groups that are warring against each other and so the beginning is about erosion of truth a rise of fear and a rising sense of conflict those are the three things that he gives in other words we need to understand that if we lived in a time if we live in a time when it's hard to understand the truth where false words swirl around and where we feel like things are getting more out of control we should start to be concerned that the hours late and now it's really easy to say well we're clearly in that time and people probably been able to say that for a couple of hundred years which probably means that the hourly is getting late but it's important also to note that he says that this is just the beginning of birth pains and he's going to get more specific as to what brings about the real end because they asked him more than once note that right they asked him what what are the signs when will this happen which is what's this he said that the temple was going to fall when will this happen when we know it according to history that the temple that they were looking at fell in 70 so that part of their question happened very soon after they asked the question and then they asked what is the sign of your coming so when's the second coming and then thirdly they asked and the end of the age so there's it's pretty packed what they said and so that's why Jesus has to go into some pretty in-depth teaching here so we first of all okay so let's look at chapter 24 verse 9 he's going to get more pointed here he's going to get more specific note the first ones are pretty pretty um pretty general you can apply that those those kind of things probably some different times in history but it's going to get more specific he says then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of my name at that time many will fall away and you will betray one another and hate one another many false prophets will arise and will mislead many because lawlessness is increase most people's love will grow cold but the one who endures to the end will be saved this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world is a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come so other signs of the of the second coming of Jesus because that's what they asked right when is it when are you coming back Jesus when's your second coming these are some these are some other signs in verse 9 we see that Israel would be increasingly hated among the nations we would call this a rise in anti-semitism and and it's and it's hard to point to a specific time in history for this right because we've seen this Evan flow throughout history but that nonetheless that's that's one of the things he says that the Jewish people would be divided against one another as well so that that helps us to single it out further he says not only well you be hated by the nation's Jews will be hated by the nation's but also that you will be you will be driven in that to a hatred towards each other secondly in verse 11 I would I would say that there's lying profits that will tug on the hearts of people pulling them away from the truth their fathers gave them in the word instead of a firm commitment to the scriptures they will increasingly buy into the latest flavor of the month social social theory and people will lose their bonds to another that's one of those one that always always stands out right it says that your most people's love will grow cold there's a there's a dismantling of relationships in verse 14 it's it's it's sort of one of those passages that goes from bad to worse right and you kind of you just kind of feel the drum beat dum dum dum dum it's getting bad bad bad but but even in there there's encouragement because in verse 14 it says amazingly in the background the gospel won't die that that even in the midst of all this tribulation and all of these these bad signs these things that are going from bad to worse that the gospel will continue to be preached in all the nations and there's going to be a constant opposition towards it but just like a whack-a-mole it where you where you where you smack it down it pops up somewhere else so knowing what is coming is important but there's more than just information here we're going to go back through this whole chapter right now and we're going to look because there's deception that's painted all throughout this passage this whole chapter really is about the idea of different kinds of deception and then the truth that needs that God's people need to believe why would why would he share us things that are going to go bad and not give us the fix for it right he doesn't do that he gives with the bad news he gives away out he gives the the answer to the problem the first problem is deception of false believers we saw this in verse chapter 24 verse 4 deception of false believers because he says see to it that no one misleads you for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and will mislead many jesus warned that people would signal rescue from sin and its effects to come from somewhere else right we can see this in the form of the cults that exist with people who come up with all kinds of alternative teachings from the Bible everybody but he warned the men he said do not be deceived God cannot be found in people places and values that do not reflect the word and so what did he ask them to do he says there's going to be people who are going to try and deceive you so what's the fix to that we already kind of hinted at that which is to know the truth he urged and the watch for the symptoms hears them to be paying attention to the words that he said and this is important because many people they get it I've talked to a lot of Christians who have a really passe understanding and view of end times theology right they really track with Matthew until Jesus gets to the Olivet discourse and then they're confused as to why Jesus is all caught up with end times why does this matter and most of the time they have that opinion because they are making a choice not to study and to not really learn what the Bible teaches but what Jesus is saying here is I'm not wasting words here I'm not taking the time and using my last sermon in the book of Matthew to teach on something that and you know that's for the pastor's in your church to understand but as long as somebody in your church understands their eschatology then you're fine you know most believers they don't have to worry about this stuff Jesus says I'm going to tell you this and by the way I want you to be aware that there's going to be people who are going to try and deceive you so you need to be alert you need to pay attention you need to be looking for these signs so if you've fallen into the trap of thinking that an understanding of eschatology is for the for the the more theologically inclined that I would say that it's important that we that we heed the words of Jesus and we pay attention to these things because you told us them for a reason because there's deception that's coming the second thing he says is that there's going to be deception of fear and distraction notice that I actually had the chance to preach a sermon on chapter 24 I was one of the first sermons that I ever preached in ocala and one of the things that stood out to me the most about this chapter is that it's a really scary chapter right there's a lot of really terrifying words that Jesus says about the end times in about the future and he says to be on alert he says pay attention these things are going to come but it comes with the encouragement to not be afraid the big two takeaways the action points for all the information there's so much information here on this page things that are going to happen there's abomination of desolation in the temple and duh d'duh duh duh duh duhhh but what's the action point two things be alert but also don't be afraid because here's the thing though the days are going to get darker and those things are going to get harder the end of the story is that Jesus wins the end of the story is that he's coming back to establish his kingdom so though we can though we can choose to you know lose our lunch over the bad things that are coming that's not what our response is supposed to be we're supposed to we're supposed to battle those things that cause fear and and notice that as part of the deception is it's informational because it says in verse 20 and verse 6 that you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars notice it doesn't say that there would be more Wars it says that you're going to hear about wars and there's going to be all kinds of rumors there's going to be information spread all over the place about all these terrible things that are happening I don't think we have to go very far to sort of make connections to our own situation on that but it's interesting that Jesus's message alongside with the warning that that stuff is going to happen you're going to get pumped full of information that's going to make you feel like things are out of control his instruction to them is to not be afraid to be alert to be aware of what's going on and to be aware of what God had to say about it but to not be afraid none the less because ultimately he's in control the third thing is we see deception a perceived threat I'm sorry perceived defeat so Jesus wasn't done with the remarks at the end times he says in verse 9 look at verse 9 they'll deliver you to tribulation they will kill you you will be hated by all nations because of my name at that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another many false prophets will arise in the sleeve many what seemed clear in his teaching was that a rising tide of hatred for God's people and its work will characterize the end times and this will be true in the tribulation of the Jewish people and we're going to talk about this in a minute because there's an important distinction that we have to make between between our current situation what we are waiting for which is the rapture in the second coming which is I believe how we teach what Jesus is talking about here is talking about being prepared for the second coming which comes later but that he says for the Jews to be careful in the time of the tribulation but also that true followers of Jesus before they are rescued by their Savior need to be aware that they are going to be that we aren't going to be popular if we're committed to following Jesus that the the further the further along time goes the less popular it will be to be a follower of Jesus and if we look at history this is again this isn't hard to see that there was a time when for a grand scheme of time it was fairly popular to be a follower of Jesus where you weren't considered you know a problem to society if you were a follower of Jesus now granted the church didn't really use that opportunity to do a lot of good things because most of that time we spent you know talking about you know anyway the middle weren't exactly a great time for the church is all I'm trying to say however it was at least at that point popular to be a Christian but now we see less and less is it popular to be a Christian and this is part of what he says but yet it says in verse 14 and we already sort of hit on this that though it will be less popular though you're going to come against more and more opposition for your beliefs in verse 14 it says that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations that though things get harder where it gets harder it seems to grow more there's been a revival and communist shine in the last thirty years why because there's persecution because you can't be a pass a believer and be in communist China you're either going to be a believer or not because at the end of the day it's a life altering choice however in in America we've seen the opposite right we see as long as prosperity and freedom seems to be the the markers of the church in America the more and more lukewarm the church gets and so we see this principle that though things are getting harder in the end times though things are getting tougher the gospel of the kingdom actually does better in the midst of persecution now it shifts to some problems and in verse 15 we see again and these are he's going to give a problem you talk about deception now he's going to give some problems and then the answer to the problem he continues the same the same idea in verse 15 he says therefore and this is where it gets very specific and where it becomes clear what he's talking about exactly so therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which is spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the Holy Place let the reader understand then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains where whoever is in the housetop must not go down to get the things that are in his house whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak but woe to those who are pregnant into those who are nursing babies in those days but pray that your flight will be in the will not be in the winter or on a Sabbath for then there will be a Great Tribulation justice is not such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever will unless those days have been cut short no life would be saved but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short now later when you go and read Revelation you can sort of use this passage to help piece together the the scrolls and the bulls and the trumpets as they get poured out and what he's talking about here is that second half of the tribulation that the seven years of the Great Tribulation are split into half and when the abomination of desolation shows up in the temple it marks the beginning of the second half which is the worst part of the tribulation where the perfect where the persecution gets ramped up even more but what I want to focus on here is that there's a problem of ignorant believers and we find it in verse 15 notice he says that there's going to be an abomination of desolation which sounds weird unless you've read Daniel right and because he says right there in the verse he says which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet now there's an assumption that Jesus made right there that those that were listening to what he had to say had read Daniel and in fact he says it's it's inserted there in the text and it says let the reader understand meaning if you don't know what this means please refer to the Book of Daniel and you will be where it will explain what the abomination of desolation is the assumption is that God's people are busy studying the text because I think that it's pretty pretty easy for us to understand that there's a lot of people who would go through their life and read this and be like what does the abomination of desolation I don't really know I just keep reading right how many of us have done that's in our reading I mean I think I'd raise my hands a we we get to something we don't understand and we're like well I gotta finish this the next five minutes so I'm just going to skip past that pretend I actually understand it how many of you ever in grade school assume that you knew they're just made a wild guess as to the definition of the word that you had no idea what it was you just went with it I fell you know whatever yeah that the assumption is here that believers are studying the text and that they are able to recognize the symptoms at the end times because they've read the word and because they've spent the time to make sense of it I'll tell you something I used to believe that you couldn't know that it was all too confusing that there were so many different theories and so many different ways that people put it together that we're probably just never going to know till Jesus comes back but that was just an excuse for laziness because I wasn't reading I wasn't doing the work to find what it is that he's saying and if you actually read prophecy and take the time and study it you can understand it it isn't beyond comprehension or else Jesus wouldn't have given it to us the second thing the second problem is the problem of undiscerning believers he says in 24 23 he says if anyone says to you behold there is the Christ or there he is do not believe him for false Christ's and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the elect behold I have not I've told you in advance so that they so that if they say do you behold he is in the wilderness do not go out or behold he is an anti rooms do not believe them for just as the Lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west so will the coming of the Son of Man be whoever the corpse is there the vultures will gather he says so don't be misled by people who tell you oh wait we missed the second coming he's actually over here he says when I come is going to be an unmistakable right you're not going to you're not going to miss a flash of lightning he says so it's going to be when I come so three times in the in the passage jesus warned the Jews that will be tempted to fall away and the fact is many don't seem to be truly discerning between what's fact and fiction when it comes to people's opinions versus the facts of what God lays out in the Bible Christianity is a commitment to Jesus Christ that permeates my being enforces transformation of my values practices priorities and commitments and if you don't have that then you aren't a Christian jesus warned of the event would come and many would falsely offer assistance and salvation or explain that oh Jesus is actually that guy Fred that you know now of course that sounds ridiculous but in in the times that are coming in the tribulation it's going to be pretty easy to be tempted away and say well it will be a lot easier if it was you so I'll accept that because it's convenient so we should become familiar with the with the Lord's good hand so that we can recognize how revealing what he said truly is third we see the problem of misdirection misdirected believers he says in 29 he says but immediately after the tribulation of those days the Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken this is just a quick quick thing right there are a lot of people who have Vaness khatallah G that's based around the idea that God is all about renewing this physical earth and we know from from the Bible that he's going to make a new earth right but the earth that we currently sit on planet Earth you know third Rock you know whatever this this earth is going to fall into more and more disarray and finally be burned to a crisp that's the reality when you when you read the when you read the text that is the end of the things that we're going we'll be darkened the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall all from the sky the whole solar system is going to fall apart don't worry God is going to make a new one and it's all going to be okay but this is important because there's a lot of people out there who try and use the the motifs of redemption that are throughout the Bible to try and say that what Christians really are supposed to be about is you know essentially being a tree hugger in all the climate change stuff that's going on right and the NA and they make this a part of their theology and it's just important for us to recognize that just like this earthly tent that we live in ultimately is going to get a pass away and we're going to get a new one so is the case with the earth that we're standing on so we don't want to be misled and misdirected that our concern should be about this present earth because at the end of the day it's going to be kindling to borrow mark Driscoll's colloquialism so so that's the problem of misdirected believers now that this is important I want to look really quickly at verse 34 because there's a turn here and how you interpret this passage can lead you one of two ways in how you understand in times s katar end times teaching okay he says truly I say to you this generation will not pass away before all these things take place and evident earth will pass away but my word will not pass away which by the way how great it verses that right heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away the the key verses 34 he says truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until these things take place there's two ways that you can you can read that or rather the complication comes that people assume that right there he broke and was talking specifically to the disciples that were with him and he was that what he was saying was this generation to say I'm Jesus who the disciples you guys aren't going to pass away before you see all this take place now there's a problem with that because they're all they've all died since and this is not yet passed away you know we still have an earth that God hasn't made all things you know what I'm saying so there's a problem here what is he trying to say well he's either if he's if you believe that then you go down the path of that all this has already happened we're already in the Millennium and by the way you'd say that that was crazy except for that's a large portion of evangelical Christians believe that we are currently in the Millennium that God is that God is reigning quasi literally and that things are getting better and better and this is the quote millennium and that his second coming is next you would call that a post millennialism second coming that you essentially were in the Millennium or waiting for the second coming that's not what we believe but if you're if you are a good grace brethren you know an or and or GCB I student and you have a premillennialism eschatology then how do we deal with this text what did you say this generation what's the who's he talking to and how does this make any sense well there's two ways that we can deal with it the first way is with translation because one way that you could theoretically translate when he says about this generations he's talking about a people group and he's talking about the Jews that the Jews won't pass away before this takes place that he's going to protect his people okay that's one way you could do it the the GC bi curriculum way and and and the the my favorite explanation is that the generation he's not talking about the guys that he's standing with he's talking about the generation that is seeing all the signs that are talking about what he is saying is the generation that sees the misdirected believers and the generation that sees the misled believers and it's what witnessing this tribulation happened that they won't pass away before the end comes so in other words what he's saying is this isn't going to last forever God is not going to continue to pummel the earth forever and you're just stuck here on it you know being tortured by a mean capricious God no do you think that's not how it works this is what he's saying is this is going to be a short time and the people who see these tribulation signs they're going to see the end it's going to be a fairly short amount of time and that's really the explanation of that but I our attention there to that verse because it's a it's a hinge point for eschatology if you misunderstand what he's saying there you could go any number of really strange routes when it comes to what you believe as far as eschatology I want to skip ahead and well actually know we're going to look at 36 and he says we're going to see something about exhausted believers he says of that day the hour no one knows not even the angels of heaven nor the son but the father alone for the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah for as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the Ark and so they did not understand until the flood came and took them away so will the coming of the Son of Man be then there will be two men in the field one will be taken and what will be left two men will be grinding at the mill and one will be taken and one will be left there's an underlying lie that yields a sinful pattern and that's relaxing and uncertainty how many of you have been in a situation in your walk with God where you know that you can rely on God to provide for your needs or you know that there is a promise of God that he's going to take care of you but yet things don't seem to be going the way you think they should go and so you start to doubt that it's ever going to happen anybody ever been there and this is the reality that the believers he's warning the believers in the tribulation against that it's going to seem like I'm never coming back and people are going to tell you I don't know that Jesus said he's coming back but it doesn't look like he's coming back and so you get you get lull into a sense of not comfort but because the waiting is going so long because there's so much uncertainty you just give up many believers live like there's no coming judgement no coming calamity for their lost neighbor no day to answer for a life lived on earth and the symptom of this lifestyle is a frivolous lives spent in pursuit of self and the easy answer the question is just to remember the judgment draws near and that's why you're already he says I want you to remember this because when this time comes when this time of tribulation is here I don't ever this is written primarily for people in the tribulation but I think it also applies to our waiting for the rapture and for our all those things just remember that what he said is going to come about then finally there's the problem of fickle believers he says in verse 42 therefore he says it again is a repeat right therefore beyond the alert for you do not know the day your Lord is coming but be sure of this that if the head of the house had known what time the night the thief was coming he would have been on the alert and not allowed for his house to be broken into I love that verse right if the thief called you and said I'm going to be there it 134 a.m. then you'd be ready with shotgun in hand right but that's not generally how thieves work they come when unexpected so verse 44 he says for this reason you must also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household now we're going to we're going to study that section as we do the explanation stories and it's only going to take probably ten minutes to get through that last section but before we do that I want for us to be clear about what it is that Jesus is promising because what he's there are two events that are coming up from it from an end times perspective and it's very easy to get them confused especially when you're reading a chapter like chapter 24 we are in what we like to call the church age which is right here I'm not going to write stuff because you guys can't read it anyway so because I have terrible handwriting this is the church age I just put CA this is the church age this is where we are and this is a time in history where God is working through his people to to preach the gospel and to make disciples to make disciples to to do the work of the right Commission right that's where we're at now one important thing for us to recognize is that during this time there is a partial hardening on the hearts of the Jewish people now we hear this all the time in sermons and things around here but what are we talking about and where do we know this from well it's in Romans chapter 11 and it's in verse 25 really quickly what he says is this this is Paul speaking in Romans he says for I do not want you brethren to be uninformed of this mystery thank you Paul what mystery that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in this is an important thing for us to understand because Jesus came to his people the Jews to be a messiah for the Jews but we look around and there's all these churches that claim to be the Church of Jesus and they're full of Gentiles well why is that because of Romans chapter 11 25 okay and we now believe that that the rapture is and is the next thing on the end-times chart right that's the thing that we are waiting for this is the rapture now this is a taking up of the church to be with Jesus well where do we count where does that come from then that's in first Thessalonians and you can write these down because it would be helpful to have 1st Thessalonians 4 chapter 13 through verse 18 what does he say in 1st Thessalonians verse 13 we do not want you to be uninformed well where we heard that before brethren about those who are asleep so that you will not grieve as the rest who have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so God will bring with him those who fall asleep in Jesus for this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not proceed with those who have fallen asleep for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain will be caught up with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall ever be with the Lord so that sounds like Jesus comes down into the clouds and sucks up the church well okay sucks up all the bodies of the Dead believers by the way where are the believers that died right now from a soul perspective who already with God they're not stuck in the ground their souls with Jesus but his pastor he loves to say there sing and I ain't got no body I don't know where he got that from that a reference to something there is a song okay I just know that pastor Randy says it all the time there sing and I ain't got no body they get their bodies back at the rapture why didn't why he needs them we're not really sure it says in 1st Corinthians that it's a mystery but it says that he needs them so they get their body and we go up and that's when the church gets raptured out but then we have a problem did God just ignore all the Jews no that's the fullness of the Gentiles being being brought into the kingdom and now starts the tribulation and this is the time that we've been reading about now why do you say that then how do we know that it's for the Jews and not for us well because first of all he's talking to a bunch of Jews and they had at that point really no idea that any of this was going to happen because Paul's whole ministry is about explaining why the gospel is going out to the Gentiles and the Jews aren't receiving it instead right here how we know is part of the reason is from what we just read he says pray that your flight isn't on a Sabbath well if you're not a Jew why do you care if it's the Sabbath and so we from all these things we put together that the tribulation is this seven-year time we get the seven years from late from before and Daniel and later in revelation and that the tribulation happens and this is primarily about the Jewish people and we learned most of that the big part of that from what we just read in Matthew 25 and then the Second Coming happens the Second Coming happens and we see that he talks about that in chapter 20 and in chapter 25 I'm sorry not 25 24 in 24 verse 19 he says and then this and then the coming will come and that's his second coming and I know it sounds like well Ben this seems like a second coming but it says that you never said he was coming back to earth he said that he was we're going to bring up his church in the cloud so this isn't his Second Coming this is the rapture because he only comes like into the clouds whatever exactly that means but it's not the Second Coming this is the Second Coming so right now we are not awaiting the Second Coming we are awaiting a rapture that God that he later revealed about in first Thessalonians and in other places where the Gentile church and Jews as well but the church in Christ is caught up before a time of tribulation and at the end of that tribulation Jesus is going to come back and we learn we also read about this by the way if you're putting down references Revelation chapter 19 is a big place to go for the second coming between Matthew 24 verses 19 on revelation 19 that looks like a 17 and I meant that to be a 19 so all this to say is that two events are coming up we like to insert the tribulation as being the one that he's talking about in 24 but it really is he's talking about the tribulation the primary use of this text is for Jewish believers in the time of the tribulation to read this and know that God is coming back for them he hasn't left them he hasn't abandoned them he hasn't forgotten the me still they're people that he's coming and that he's going to end the tribulation so that they can be with him now that doesn't mean that there aren't principles that we can learn about being ready and about about about preparedness and about not being deceived from this text but that's the primary use of it first twenty four forty two so therefore be on the alert you do not know that it would the day what your Lord is coming it's the command gregorio which literally means stay awake I want to look really quickly and we're actually just going to read them and then I'm going to dismiss you because I'm already to my full time but I think that these pictures speak for themselves this is this is the illustration time for Jesus's sermon right if you if you go and you learn how to preach sermons you're supposed to put illustrations in the sermon to sort of keep people awake but that's not how Jesus chose to do this one he has to put all the information at the front end and then put all the illustrations at the end okay or at least that's how it's recorded in the book of Matthew so chapter 25 says this the first one is about brides that are waiting Matthew chapter 25 verse 1 then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom five of them were foolish and five of them prudent for when the foolish took their lamps they took no oil with them but the prudent took oil and flasks along with their lamps now when the bridegroom was delaying they all got drowsy and began to sleep but at midnight there was a shout behold the bridegroom come out to meet him then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps the foolish said to the prudent give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out but the prudent answered no there will not be enough for us in you to go instead of the dealers and buy some for yourselves and while they were going away to make the purchase the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast and the door was shut later the other virgins also came saying Lord Lord opened up for us but as he answered truly I say to you I do not know you beyond the alert then for you to not know the day nor the hour verse 14 he says for it is just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them to one he gave five talents into another two and to another one each according to his own ability then then he went his way went on his way on his journey immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five more talents in the manner the one who the one who had received the two talents gained two more but he received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents saying master you have entrusted me five talents to me see I have gained five more talents his master said to him well done good and faithful slave you were faithful with a few things I will put you in charge of many things enter into the joy of your master also the one who had received the two talents came up and said master you entrusted tooth down two talents to me see I've gained two more talents his master said to him well done good and faithful slave you are faithful with a few things I will put you in charge of many things enter into the joy of your master and then one also who had received the one talent came up and said master I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you sowed no seed and I was afraid and I went away and hid your talent in the ground see you have what is yours but his master answered him and said you wicked lazy slave you knew that I reap where I do not sow and gather where I scattered no seed then you ought to put my money in the bank and on my arrival I would have been received my money back with interest therefore take away the talent from him and give it to the one who had the ten talents for to everyone who has more everyone who has more shall be given into he who has an abundance but to the one who does not have even what he does have shall be taken away throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth but this when the Son of Man comes in his glory and the angels with him he will sit on his glorious throne and the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate one from another the Shepherd's as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left then the king will say to those on his right come you who are blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink I was a stranger and you invited me in naked and you clothed me I was sick and you invited me in I was in prison and you came to me the king will answer them and say verse 40 true eyes truly I say to you to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these brothers of mine even to the least of them you did it to me then he will also say that those on his left depart from me accursed ones into the eternal fire which has been separated for the devil and his angels verse 45 says then he will answer them truly I say to you to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these you did not do it to me these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life and if you think understanding the end times doesn't matter then you missed the whole point of what he said this is at the end every individual will face that judgment and so to ignore the fact that that judgment is going to happen is to say we don't care about what Jesus cares about and that's by the way our neighbor who at the end of the day is going to face the same judgment that we face and if it wasn't for all this quote endtime stuff we would have no idea of the importance and the emphasis that we need to take on making disciples not just mentor but going out and making disciples teaching them and baptizing [Music] I don't have lovely brain to you

Channel: One Hour. One Book.

Views: 6,198

Rating: 4.7777777 out of 5

Keywords: GCBI, Dr. Randy Smith, Bible teaching, Bible class, Hebrew, Greek

Id: pnU-_63U8Rs

Length: 50min 0sec (3000 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 20 2017