Our sermon title this morning is Jesus Instructions for End Time
Living. One of the big questions that
people often get very fixated on and very involved in is what's
it going to be like when it happens?
What will be the signs when it finally all will go down?
The apostles were given the command to spread the gospel,
but it was always with this end time in mind.
The gospel is a is that the good news of repentance, of salvation
through faith in Jesus Christ and all leads toward an end and
it's for all of humanity. And part of the gospel means and
teaches us to live in preparation and readiness and in
anticipation of it. When the church was born, that
was when the time of the end began.
The apostles, they lived and preached in this last age, or
end times age as we call it. And you and I, we here today,
we're still in the end time, end times teaching and end times
preaching is not like the last page in a book.
You know, sometimes you read a book, you come toward the end
and it's the one last chapter, and then the last two pages, and
then the last sentence and the last word, you close the book.
I don't think that's a good analogy or a good picture of end
times. To me, it's more like you have a
5000 piece puzzle, small pieces, and it's all spread and
scattered over a huge surface and you start picking up the
pieces, which goes where it takes a lifetime to to put it
together. A lot of things we simply don't
know, in part because we don't have the culture of their time.
The lot of things that they knew we don't know, and the way they
understood things, we don't understand things that way.
And so there's a lot of gaps. And so for a lot of people, it's
all about signs and events. My, my intention here this
morning is not to go there. It's not I'm trying to be a cop
out, but I think there's something more important and
deeper than figuring out, OK, this happened and this happened
and now it's going to go down. Early on in my walk with Christ,
I would from time to time come across end times prophecy
teachings and writings and I listened to the radio.
Back then we did not have computer actually.
In fact, my wife and I were married.
I believe it was six years or seven years before we had our
first big screen 14 inch TV and it was black and white.
And so we have very limited access to the outside world
except radio. And I did a lot of reading and
magazines. So I was quite drawn in by
listening and reading about end Times prophecy.
And I learned one of the one of the things I learned was how
different the different theologians would approach the
subject. And they were very convinced,
very emphatic, this event and that event means this and it
means that. And they would dive into
Revelation and the book of Daniel, the book of Ezekiel and
the prophets had it all figured out.
The one thing they didn't, they were just short of and a few
guys did. I never listened to them.
They would put an end time date on it, but the guys I listened
to, they would not put a date on it.
Everything else they would do. Interestingly, I would say today
maybe almost or all of those properties that used to listen
to 35 close to 40 years ago today are nothing more then
books and stories in the dustbin of history and the and the
element of the end times story that they should have emphasized
was seldom heard. And so that's where I want to go
today. We're continuing our sermon
series out of the Gospel of Mark and today we're in chapter 13.
It's an end times chapter. In this chapter, Jesus is in his
final week on earth in his ministry, and he spent a lot of
time by now teaching in the temple earlier that week and
Sunday he walked into Jerusalem, looked at the temple, walked
out. The next day he comes in and he
cleans the place out. It was a big job in and of
itself and he got into a lot of trouble.
The Pharisees interrogating him and wanting to know by what
authority are you doing these things?
Who gives you the right to do these things and the constant
interaction with these Pharisees and these religious leaders?
In this chapter we will find that Jesus told his disciples
what they needed to know, not necessarily what they wanted to
hear. And the same goes for us often
times too. When we read a chapter like Mark
chapter 13, I want us to start at the beginning of the chapter
and lay the foundation of what was further ahead, the teachings
of Jesus. What Jesus teaching here is
grounded or rooted in the early part of the chapter where Jesus
and his disciples have just finished their thing during for
the day in the temple and they walk out of the temple.
And as they're walking out of the temple, something very
interesting takes place. And this is kind of the backdrop
or the basis of the foundation of what we want to look into
today. And if you have your Bibles or
devices, read with me. Mark chapter 13 the 1st 2 verses
in chapter chapter 13 verse one, it says then as he went out of
the temple, meaning Jesus, one of his disciples said to him,
Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are
here. And Jesus answered and said to
him, do you see these great buildings?
Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown
down. This is kind of the backdrop of
the canvas on which we want to paint the story today.
The the disciples of Jesus, their mindset when they walked
out of the temple and Jesus mindset when he walked out of
the temple were polar opposites. And So what Jesus, what we'll
find here, what Jesus will be, will be doing here.
When you read it in a moment, Jesus shifts their focus.
Where was their focus? Their focus was, wow, what a
glorious place. Some commentators say that the
temple grounds on which this place was built was actually a
surface area of 30 some acres. That's a lot of land.
And on that flat, on that flat, on that piece, there was this
magnificent thing called the temple Huge.
It was wonderfully built. It took Herod many, many years
to build it. And in fact, they were not even
done when Jesus was there. They had been working on it for
40 years, but there was still building after these died and
rose and went to heaven. In fact, commentators say it was
only completed about maybe 10 years before Jerusalem was
destroyed. That's how big it was and how in
depth it was. But the disciples are seeing
this place and they're just marvelling at what they're
seeing. And Jesus, of course, sees it
too. But for the disciples, we can
imagine what they were thinking based on the comments they had
been making, and also what they would be saying to Jesus on what
they would be bickering amongst themselves on Thursday night
before Jesus would be arrested. They were thinking, OK, who's
going to be the greatest when Jesus is king?
And when Jesus takes over this whole place, the palace in
Jerusalem, the temple and the nation for that matter, what
role will we play? What promotions will we get?
Those were the kinds of thoughts that were running through their
minds during the Passion Week. And here Jesus says, you see
these great buildings, I'm telling you, not one stone here
will be left on another that will not be thrown out.
And they were not just little tiny bricks like we have in our
building in front. They were massive stones
weighing. Some say some stones are
hundreds of tons each. It was a sight to behold.
The question I want to ask is when we think of end times,
teaching that we're going to go here to in a second is where's
our heart? Where's our focus?
Are we with the disciples? It's more of a temp
materialistic view. What's going to happen to this
earth is a political or is it eternal in terms of what has
eternal value for the disciples? All they knew Jesus is the
Messiah, King of kings in which he was.
But when Jesus said this, this was extreme.
This was a complete shift of focus.
So the first point this morning I want us to think about is end
times living and end times living.
Focus matters. In case to those of you who are
taking notes, focus matters. For the disciples, this was
brand new. Nobody had ever said something
like this. And when historians talk about
the actual event of Jerusalem being destroyed, with Jerusalem
first of all being destroyed, then the temple being destroyed,
it's a horrific story. Now just say a few words about
that. When the Jews had an uprising
about 60 sometime AD, they rebelled against Rome.
They revolted. Rome, of course, came down hard,
sent the an emperor out with an army, besieged Jerusalem.
And inside Jerusalem there were a lot of Jews and they would
fight amongst themselves trying to gain the upper hand, who
should be the boss or the leader when it all would go down.
Because they were not doubting it for a moment that they
wouldn't win or they were going to win, just how it will unfold
when they do win. They didn't think that the
temple in Jerusalem would ever be destroyed.
To them was a matter of waiting it out.
And once they would win, then this is how it would be.
And there were several, I think there's three, maybe more
different factions fighting amongst themselves.
Those are the things Jesus prophesying.
So focus matters in the disciples.
They're focusing on the temporal, the material, and
Jesus is saying, Nope, that's not where it's at.
So in the end times, Jesus has a different focus.
Let's read chapter Mark 13, verse 3.
And it says now as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the
temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew Aston privately tell us,
they say, when will these things be?
And what will be the sign when all these things will be
fulfilled? Just imagine the scene.
They've left the temple. They've walked out of the
temple, down out of Jerusalem, through the Kidron Valley, up
the Mount of Olives, and on the Mount of Olives.
It was higher than the temple. So they're looking down across
the valley toward Jerusalem, toward the Temple Mount.
Say, Lord, when will this be? This is news to us.
When will these things be? And then verse 5, Jesus says,
answering them, He said, take heed that no one deceives you.
For many will come in my name, saying, I am He and will deceive
many. But when you hear of wars and
rumors of wars, do not be troubled, for such things must
happen. But the end is not yet.
For nation will rise against nation and Kingdom against
Kingdom, and there will be earthquakes in various places,
and there'll be famines and troubles.
These things are the beginnings of sorrows.
So the point #2 is in end times, beware of deception.
Beware of deception. The question is not, will
deceivers come? The question is, who's going to
fall for them? That's the question.
And if it was not a risk for God's people to become deceived
and go after deceivers, then it wouldn't have been mentioned.
But because it's mentioned, we have to accept the fact that
it's a reality. These wars and rumors of wars,
Jesus says that will be mortal conflict, natural disasters,
nature. Will there be natural upheavals?
But so far Jesus has not said a single word yet.
But when the end will be. So what is he talking about?
Is Jesus talking about the end of the Jewish city, Jerusalem in
the temple, or the future end of the world?
Mark, the gospel writer does not say, but it seems he's talking
about both, both the end of Jerusalem and the end of the
world as we know it. If anything, in verse 8, he says
these are the beginnings of sorrows.
It's always tempting to want to know what's around the corner,
what's over the hill, what's around that corner.
Jesus does not tell his disciples.
He's just saying this is the journey.
This is what the journey toward the end will be like.
They're on the Mount of Olives, perhaps sitting there and
listening to Jesus talk. They may have been just sitting
there looking at Jerusalem, looking at the temple.
Wow, what's he talking about? Then the point #3 he says watch
out for yourselves. End time living.
He said basically, prepare to endure.
So let's look at that, Prepare to endure.
He says watch out for yourselves.
For they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten
in the synagogues. You'll be brought before rulers
and kings for my sake, for the testimony to them.
And the gospel must be first preached to all nations.
But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry
beforehand or premeditate what you will speak.
But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that.
For it's not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
Now brother will betray brother to death, and the Father, his
child and children will rise up against parents and cause them
to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for
my name's sake. But he who endures to the end
shall be saved. Jesus is completely dismantling,
deconstructing their whole end times view and he's giving in
the complete different view. The matter before the disciples
here was not will you suffer all you will suffer.
That was going to happen, but be ready for what he's saying to
them. He says watch for yourselves.
Life would be hard, it would be difficult, the ministry would
not be easy, and the cost would be great.
This is a reminder of the cross. And he doesn't mention the cross
here per SE in that aspect, but it's a reminder of it.
And he reminds them also to not to not worry, to not think ahead
how I'm going to defend myself. What am I going to say to the
authorities who arrest me, who arrest us and who beat us and
who torture us and persecute us? He says you'll be given what you
need in that time. The severity of it would be very
extreme. And this applies to us today.
We must be on guard and not allow ourselves to be brought to
think that somehow we can be friends with God, with God and
friends of the world at the same time.
We have to be careful with that. We do know the early disciples,
they suffered severe persecution at extreme levels and many were
killed. And over the centuries this has
been the life of the church persecution.
And today still in many countries, there is severe
persecution. Here in the West, we do not see
it as much. There's some some mild
persecution, we could call it, and it may welcome that religion
or faith in Christ will be illegal one day.
We don't know that. And it may be for years, maybe
never in our world, in our culture here.
But in different ways, the distractions are just as real.
Jesus reminds his disciples that those who do endure, those who
endure to the end will be saved. Then he talks about these
strange events in verse 14. He's speaking to his disciples
about these events on the horizon.
When these events come, he says people should take evasive
action. There's much that's been written
about all of this, but running about the moving, going, fleeing
to Jerusalem and and running away and so on.
And that's the next point here in the end times living.
We have to be ready and he talks to the disciples about that.
Let's continue verse 14. He says in verse 14, so when the
abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet standing
where it ought not then that those who are in Judea flee to
the mountains that him was on the housetop not go down into
the house. They're entered to take anything
out of his house. So is he talking about end end
times or talking about the destruction of Jerusalem?
The destruction of Jerusalem would make sense here.
Let him was in the field, not go back to take his clothes.
But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are
nursing babies in those days. And pray that your flight may
not be in winter. For in those days there will be
tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the
creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.
And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh
would be saved. But for the elect's sake whom He
chose, He shortened the days. Then if anyone says to you,
look, here's the Christ, or look, he is there, do not
believe it. For false Christs and false
prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if
possible, even the elect. But take heed.
See, I've told you all things beforehand.
But in those days after that tribulation, the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
The stars will fall, for the stars of heaven will fall, and
the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with
great power and glory, that He will send his angels and gather
his elect from the four winds from the farthest part of the
earth to of of heaven. He's basically telling him be
ready. He's telling him what to do when
certain things go down. But primarily it's about be
ready when it happens. Reading just the first part
there, it sounds Jesus is describing what happened during
the destruction of Jerusalem. It's very local, it's very
geographical. And this happened some 30 years
after Jesus prophesied this. It was a horrific time and the
abomination of desolation that Jesus talks about, that Daniel
talks about, different theologians have expanded on
that and they've they've gone deep into it.
I will simply say I'm not sure to what all this pertains.
Has it already passed? Maybe.
It's possible. Yeah.
Will some of this happen again, repeat itself or it's going to
happen? Maybe, possibly.
But the point is clear. Be ready.
This was the call for the disciples for the time.
That call has not changed. There's never a time when we can
put our Christian life on cruise or just kick back and relax and
let down our guard, so to speak. There's never a time when a
Christian can lay down their armor.
Jesus again talks about false Christs and false prophets
performing signs and wonders to deceive.
Jesus says if it were possible, even the elect.
And Jesus again alludes to natural disasters he's talked
about before. And we must be careful not to
start putting events into chronological slots.
This has been done in the past, but we know it doesn't work.
All we know Jesus hasn't come yet.
He's going to come, but what all will go down is not clear.
It's not going to be pretty. 11 commentator's name is Timothy
Getter and I've alluded to numerous times in the sermon
series in this book here he mentions in this passage, it was
the disciples who introduced the word sign, quote UN quote sign
into the conversation when they asked Jesus what the sign would
be for the destruction of Jerusalem in the temple when it
was going to happen. They were the ones who
introduced the word sign when Jesus began his response to his
disciples. In his talk, Jesus uses the word
signs only in as an informative from an informative standpoint.
In fact, He used the word sign to warn against the teachers of
the law and Pharisees. Jesus was not really much sign
focused. He did talk about it, but that
was not the thrust of His emphasis.
We can be so sign focused, we can forget to be ready focused.
Let me say that again. We can be so sign focused we
forget to be ready focused. Some people find it a lot easier
to focus on signs than not being ready.
Many years ago I met a man and we were.
We became friends. And we spent time together here
and there and he was a Christian, at least I believe he
was a Christian and he's, he claimed he was.
But one of the things that happened in my relationship with
this guy was without exception, when we were together, he would
go to end times teaching what does revelation this and that
and what and on and on he would go.
And that was without fail. We would get together and he
would dive into end times theology, end times doctrine,
end times teaching. And that was his thing, pretty I
would say every single time. And I kind of was puzzled.
Why is he doing this? And I never contradicted him or
never really challenged him. I didn't agree on everything,
but I thought, you know what's not my place here?
I'm a friend. I don't want to just maybe cause
tension in a relationship, but just let him talk.
Our friendship drifted, he moved away, our friendship drifted and
we basically never connected again.
But I learned one day he had gotten sick and he became I'll
he passed away. And then I learned some other
things. This man was he did go to church
here and there. He believed in God very heavily,
end times focused. And I learned a few things.
He had a very broken family, his wife and kids, no good
relationship with his children if at all.
Then I learned on top of that he lived more failure.
I don't know if at the time was my friend, but had a history of
moral failure. He was very end times focused,
not so much ready focused. And as I pondered all this, it
seemed to me the dots connected. He had some sort of faith, but
more focused on what's going to go down than if he was ready for
it. And it's easy to become science
focused instead of ready focused.
So first, we have the right focus.
Second, we have to be aware of deception.
We have to be prepared to endure.
We have to live ready, then we have to live watchfully.
Let's read verse 28 to the end of the chapter.
Now learn this parable. Jesus says, learn this parable
from the fake tree, verse 28. When its branch has already
become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is
near. So you also, when you see these
things happening, know that it is near at the doors.
Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass
away till all these things take place.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means
pass away. But of that day and hour no one
knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only
the Father. Take heed, watch, and pray, for
you do not know when the time is.
It is like a man going to a far country who left his house and
gave authority to his servants and to each his work, and
commanded the doorkeeper to watch.
Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the
house is coming in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of
the rooster, early in the morning or early in the morning,
lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
And what I say to you I say to all, watch.
Let's think about this word. Watch.
Jesus didn't give them a very clear warning.
He says don't, don't be over concerned about the signs.
Yes, they're there and we need to pay attention to them, but
watch that begins now. That's every day.
And again, as I said, this is a difficult passage and it's not
like the book, the last sentence in the chapter, the last words
in a in a sentence. It is like a puzzle and the
pieces are not all together yet. When Jesus says in verse 30 that
this generation will by no means pass away till all these things
take place, what's he talking about?
Is he talking about events described in a time frame that
at that time meant his disciples, and that was the time
frame that generation? Some say yes, some theologians
would. Yeah, that's what he was packing
it into. Or is he talking about a
comprehensive view from the time when Jerusalem would be
destroyed, when he would leave earth and the church would begin
to the destruction, and further to the very end when he would
return in glory? Is he talking about that?
Is that all one linear? Well, it doesn't tell us this.
If this phrase means the church generation, then I can see it.
What I want to focus on is, am I ready, am I watching, am I
alert, am I sleeping? Jesus tells us, disciples, keep
watch. Make sure you don't become
complacent. What's so interesting in this
passage is this. There is a total and complete
absence of any time date, Not even the places really, except
Jerusalem would be destroyed. But other than that, there's not
a lot about places either. So what does this teach us?
Again, it's not about when, it's about how we're to live in
anticipation of the things that are happening.
What is important for us to realize we do Live Today in an
end time cycle of the world and it's drawing closer.
What is important for us to pay attention to is how do we live
in this end time? The truth is that when the
master comes, then it's too late to quickly.
Oops, sorry, I'm a bit late. You know, can you hold off 5
minutes? There will be nothing like that.
Yeah, we can start the service this morning a few minutes late
because it was important to us. We get things done in in order
and that's fine. But on judgement Day, there will
be no, oh, half a second too late, either ready or not ready,
not coming, kind of in between, almost ready or, or quickly get
ready yet that won't be there. I want to say something here
this morning that may not sit well with some of you here.
And I'm not sure where everybody's AT.
And that's not my point to judge or condemn anybody if they're
disagreeing with me or not. On the page where I'm at with
this, I want to be gentle but honest.
Some Christians teach 2 comings of Jesus at the end of time.
They teach that first toward the end they would say the Bible
teaches it. That's very different.
They say that toward the end Jesus will come and rapture the
church. He's going to blink of an eye
and all the believers will be gone, just silent rapture.
And then things on earth are going to fall apart.
There's going to be a seven-year tribulation and things will be
get from bad to worse. It's going to be very evil.
And then there will be some of those left behind who will
become Christians and walk with God, repent and turn to Christ,
and they will then have to persevere or be killed during
the seven-year tribulation. But then after the seven years,
Jesus will come back, establish his reign on earth, reign for
1000 years, and evil will be done away with these two comings
of Christ in the end times, the one rapture in the second after
that is the way that some people understand it.
I will say this, I've done some research and I've listened to
different speakers on both sides of this camp and the early
church fathers up to the Reformation and beyond.
I don't find it. I do know there's a lot of
theologians that he interpreted that way.
My response to this is, as far as I've been able to tell, this
began in the 1820s to 1830s, that this rapture theology kind
of took off, that there will be two comings from the early days
of the church till 1820s that really wasn't there.
At least I've not found it. But what is emphasized
throughout Scripture, don't bank on that.
Don't bank. I know.
OK, you know what, If I don't make it the first round, I'll
get ready for the second round. That is not biblical.
And I'm not saying these people are not Christians.
All I'm saying is that I disagree with it.
What I do say is that no matter who they are, who anyone is, all
who repent of their sins, who ask for forgiveness and receive
Jesus and walk with Jesus, they'll be saved.
Guess what, Even the disciples didn't have their theology
correct. Even when Jesus rose from the
dead, Acts chapter one, verse 8, even then they had to get some
training and we need to be trained our whole lives.
One thing I will say also is that there are people in this
world, they really look forward to the coming of Christ,
especially when you talk, when you listen to people talk and
persecuted countries, to them it couldn't come soon enough.
But here in the West, for many of us, I want to enjoy life
first. You know what, maybe I want to
get married first. I want to enjoy family first.
I want to enjoy this first. I want to enjoy that first.
That is not readiness. I watched the video on time of a
speaker who made the comment that North America, we're so
entrenched to comfort focused living, security based living
that when anything about persecution is mentioned or it
happens to anyone, we we're allergic to it.
We don't want it and we brace against it.
We bristle. We don't want to hear it.
On the other hand, in certain countries in the world where
they're ruled by brutal dictatorships, when people are
persecuted there, they. Yeah, we expected this.
Yeah. This is what What?
What's our lot in life? This is part of the tribulation.
And guess what? It's going to end, and we're
going to go to heaven. They smile when you talk of end
times here in the West. Oh, wow.
What's going to go down? Why are we?
What's going to happen? Jesus warned his disciples they
would be arrested. They would be tortured.
They would be killed. And He's calling you and I today
to watch. He's calling us to be alert.
He's calling us to not be deceived and not to go for dates
and times. The topic of end times theology
is hot button issue. I get that, but it shouldn't be.
You and I will all die, 100% guarantee.
Unless Christ comes in the meantime.
But the way it is now, we will all die.
Some of us, sooner than later, we will die, and there's no
second chance. After that, there's nothing.
That's the final end. The the point we're trying to
get here is, are we ready? The day that we breathe our last
is when we meet Jesus. The most important part of End
Times teaching is not to fix events and places and politics
around the world. It's the focus to be ready and
to live ready when it happens. And when we do that, then we can
joyfully, with freedom and abandoned, enjoy the life that
we have. Whether persecution or not is
not the issue. Then we can live with full joy
and peace in the space and time God has allotted for each one of
us. Whether it's a short life,
whether it's a long life, that doesn't matter.
The disciples on the Mount of Olives on that day got a wake up
call. They believe their beloved
temple is permanent. They believe Jesus would in a
matter of days, be king and rule forever.
They believed that they would have parts and positions in this
glorious king that he would set up.
And what does Jesus do? He deconstructs.
He dismantles their whole theology.
We have to be careful we don't allow ourselves to be deceived
into thinking and believing something that's not scriptural
for us today. So let's not look at stones and
bricks and mortar and bank accounts and property and
business and all of that stuff. As good as that is, let's not
focus on those things. Let's focus on the eternal, on
relationships, relationship with Christ, relationships with one
another, blessing one another, being with one another.
Let's look to the future of what Christ has for us, for the
disciples. Jesus lifted their focus from
the here and now to the eternal. So let's live in the here and
now in a way we can look forward with joy and we're ready when
the time comes for us to leave this planet.
We're ready to meet the Master when he calls.
That's pause for prayer. Lord, thank you for your word.
Thank you for giving us a glimpse of what it will be like
when you return. We admit we understand very
little. There's so much we don't know,
but what we do know is enough. You've told us to be watchful,
to be in guard, not to be deceived, to not have a wrong
focus. Help us not to fear or to worry.
Help us to live in confidence. Enjoy that when our time comes
to meet you, we'll not just be ready, we'll be looking forward
to it with joy and anticipation. What you've prepared for us, we
thank you in Jesus name, Amen.