The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Psalm 145quoted at the opening to lead worship: 'great is the Lord and most worthy of praise'
1 I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever.
3 Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts.
5 Of the glorious majesty of your honor, of your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts. I will declare your greatness.
7 They will utter the memory of your great goodness, and will sing of your righteousness.
8 Yahweh is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
9 Yahweh is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.
10 All your works will give thanks to you, Yahweh. Your saints will extol you.
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk about your power;
12 to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. Yahweh is faithful in all his words, and loving in all his deeds.
14 Yahweh upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 Yahweh is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works.
18 Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.
20 Yahweh preserves all those who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh. Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
Berkeley read it to describe the importance of Christian community and not neglecting to meet together
24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,
25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.
the Olivet Discourse, read through at length as the main sermon text
1 Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.
2 But he answered them, “You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”
3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray.
5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places.
8 But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.
9 Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake.
10 Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.
11 Many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray.
12 Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.
13 But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.
14 This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
15 “When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house.
18 Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes.
19 But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!
20 Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, nor on a Sabbath,
21 for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.
22 Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.
23 “Then if any man tells you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or, ‘There,’ don’t believe it.
24 For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
25 “Behold, I have told you beforehand.
26 If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it.
27 For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28 For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures gather together.
29 But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;
30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
31 He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
32 “Now from the fig tree learn this parable. When its branch has now become tender, and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near.
33 Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away, until all these things are accomplished.
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
36 But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 “As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship,
39 and they didn’t know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left.
41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left.
42 Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.
43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
44 Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.
47 Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.
48 But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,
50 the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it, and in an hour when he doesn’t know it,
51 and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.
used as the benediction: 'humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God... cast all your anxiety on him... be sober, be on the alert'
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time;
7 casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.
8 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.
10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
11 To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Ray opened the Olivet Discourse in Matthew, the longest single teaching Jesus gave his disciples, and worked through it looking for the commands Jesus actually gave rather than getting tangled in the debates about end-times timelines that have divided Christians for centuries. The approach was deliberate: after months of preaching things that are easy to understand but hard to do, this passage is famously hard to understand, so Ray went looking for what is actionable. The result is a short list of things Jesus told his followers to do while they wait.
What was said
Before the Olivet Discourse begins, Jesus has just finished the seven woes to the Pharisees. Ray walked through those briefly because they set the stage: the Pharisees had missed the entire thrust of scripture. They were tithing mint and dill and cumin while leaving out justice, mercy and faithfulness. They were zealous in ways that did more harm than good, and they had turned scripture into a loophole-hunting exercise. Ray noted that Christians and denominations can fall into the same trap, getting into the minutiae while missing what God is overwhelmingly trying to do, which is draw people into his family.
The disciples, right after that confrontation, pointed Jesus toward the temple buildings. He told them the whole thing would be torn down. They sat with him on the Mount of Olives and asked the natural follow-up: when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming? Jesus answered with a long discourse, and Ray's approach was to flag the imperative commands as he moved through it, putting the explicit ones in green and the implicit ones in pink on the slides.
The early commands are essentially: do not be misled and do not be alarmed. Wars, famines, earthquakes, false messiahs, people claiming to be Christ, these things will come. Jesus says they are the beginning of birth pains, not the end. The disciples will be handed over, hated, and some will fall away. Into all of that, Jesus says: don't get swept along by it. Endure. The one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
Ray acknowledged the parts of the passage he does not understand, including the line about "this generation" not passing away. He said so plainly and moved on, noting that where scripture is genuinely hard to interpret, the honest move is to admit it and turn to what is clear. He was equally direct that nobody knows the day or the hour, and that anyone who claims to know, on a billboard or anywhere else, simply does not.
The parables that close the discourse, the ten virgins, the talents, the sheep and the goats, all press toward the same point. Be about the business the master left you to do. The virgins who ran out of oil were not ready. The slave who buried his talent was not working. The people on the left at the final judgment had not fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, or visited the sick and imprisoned. The people on the right had done those things, and had not even realized they were doing them for Jesus.
Ray brought the whole discourse down to its core: it is not a code to crack about pre- or post-millennial timelines. The commands are to not be misled, not be alarmed, endure, stay alert, and be found doing what Jesus said to do. That means loving one another well enough that people around you are drawn in, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, and taking care of those who are suffering. That is the fundamental thrust of scripture, the same one the Pharisees missed, and Jesus is saying: don't miss it.
The service moved from the sermon into communion, with Ray praying over the bread and the cup and reading the words of institution. He closed with the benediction from 1 Peter: humble yourselves, cast your anxiety on God, be sober and alert, resist the devil, and trust that the God of all grace will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Berkeley shared that he could look like a good Christian on the outside while his focus had drifted away from God on the inside. Have you noticed that same pull in your own life, and what has helped you recognize it when it happens?
Ray said the Olivet Discourse is famously hard to interpret, so he chose to focus on the commands Jesus gives rather than the debated timeline. How do you tend to approach parts of the Bible that are genuinely difficult to understand, and does that approach serve you well?
I got it. I've got it figured out. I've got it figured out.
Cool. This is fun. This is giblet. This is giblets around. It's kinda weird that Carl didn't start already.
It's like nine.
I should
be careful. It's about that time, isn't it? Good morning, everybody. Would you stand with me and we'll we'll we'll sing together. How about a a classic song, how great is our God?
An encouraging word from, Psalm one forty five to lead us in the worship. It's great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. And then Psalm one fifty goes on to say, praise him for his acts of power and praise him for his surpassing greatness. But shall we do that? Let's sing of it.
And all the earth rejoice all the earth rejoice and wraps himself in life.
He wraps himself in life.
And darkness tries too high and trembles at his voice. Trembles at his voice. Let's sing of God's greatness. How great is our God.
Sing me how great is our God.
Age you stand. Time is in its hands. Beginning and the end. He's the name above all names.
He's worthy
of it.
Worthy of all praise. And my heart is seen how great is our God
how great is our God sing with me
how great is our God don't see how great is our God. Actually, Carl, why don't you talk about Awana? Sure.
Awana is happening tomorrow. So at 05:45, that's when the kids come. Volunteers and, and their kids come earlier at 05:15, and the Lot Shaw small group will be serving meatloaf. But all the rest, Wana kids, 05:45, and tomorrow is duct tape night. So they will be making their best creation out of duct tape.
And then at the end of the night, we have a little, I guess, like, a be like judges and hand out awards and prizes. But it's it's a lot of fun. That's tomorrow at Awana.
Awana duct tape night. Alright. Sounds good. That sounds like my kind of night at Awana. Duct tape is for things that should not move but do, and WD 40 is for things that should move but don't.
Okay. Maybe that'll be next week, WD forty night. We're still looking for fellowship hall volunteers for the connect hour.
And for a one or two.
So And for a one.
Look at the at the bulletin board at the end of the hall in the in the fellowship hall, please. And and if you can fill in one of those blanks, please do. We need you.
We really do.
That's good. Thank you. We are having a men's study studying James together on Thursdays at lunchtime. So Thursday is 11:55 in the fellowship hall. Come and go as you need it.
It'll have pretty hard stop at 01:00. It's a good time to be together. It's a guys study study in James. Men's Alliance is this Wednesday, first Wednesday of the month, 06:30AM. Also, down in the fellowship hall.
So
that's
a good one. Good breakfast, good fellowship, and I don't know who's doing what this week, but it'll be good. I guarantee it. Alright. And I think that's it.
Does anybody have anything else? I do. I do have something else. Most of y'all will know this already. And for those of you who don't, we've lost a very beloved member of his community this week.
Kelly Krausz, who owned, operated the Virginian for all these years, died on the mountain on Friday, went into a tree well. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry to be the bearer of that bad news, but would y'all just pray with me right now? God help Lynette and Kevin and Danielle and Rachel and Blake and the family, Lord. This morning, I pray that you would be with them in a very, very profound and real way.
May the body of Christ in this community show your love and your mercy and your grace. May we be helpful during this time of profound sadness and grief, Lord. As we grieve with them, pray that you'd give us what we need, which we don't know, what we need right now, Lord. So in Jesus' name, I pray that you would bless and encourage and bring back to full strength. In Jesus name, amen.
Would you all stand with us?
This is an invitation to bring them. Come all you
thirst no more. Of
Come all you sinners. Come find his mercy. Come to save him. He will satisfy. Taste of his good news.
Find what you're looking for. For God's soul love. Let's sing this together.
Oh, God's soul I'm walking in freedom for God's soul of God's soul
of the world. Doxology here. Praise God. From whom I'll bless us. Praise
God and praise God from whom all blessings flow. And praise him. Praise him for the wonders of his love. Sing that again. Praise God.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow praise him praise him for the wonders hell forever defeated. Now it is well. I'm walking in freedom for God's soul. God's soul. Loved.
An invitation to bring on. Come on.
Bring your your failures. Bring your addictions. Don't lay them down at
God, thank you for this very, very real invitation for us to meet with you almighty and holy God. God who is standing by to comfort and encourage us. Lord, thank you for your words in Matthew. Come to me, you say, all who are weary and you carry heavy burdens, and you will give us rest. Thank you for that promise.
And thank you, God, for the promise of eternal life in you. It's it's by by faith and faith alone in Jesus. Lord, would you instill that faith in us as we make a step toward you this morning here in worship as we sing to you and praise you. God, would you meet with us and may that faith that we have continue to grow and grow. In Jesus name.
Amen. Psalm sixteen eleven. This is one of my favorite favorite Psalms. It's, you make known to me the path of life. Just consider that for a moment.
God is making known to us the path of life, and that is through Christ, really. And you'll fill me with joy in your presence. Do you know that God is with us right now? There is nowhere where we can go where he is not. He is with us.
He is very very present and active in this place right here. And the pleasure of living with you forever. That's the promise, not just of his presence with us now, but his presence with us forever. I searched the world, but it couldn't fill me. Man's enmity prays and treasures that fade, they're not enough.
Then you came along. Then you came along.
And put me back together. And every desire is now you.
Well, I'm not afraid
to show you my weakness, my failures and flaws. Lord, you've seen them all. You still call me friends.
Because the God of the mountain is
the God of the valley. There's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again oh there's And
And you turn mourning to dancing. You turn mourning to dancing.
You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. You turn graves into guardians. You turn bones into armies.
You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. Oh, there's nothing better than you, lord. There's nothing better than you lord there's nothing and nothing is better than you lord there's nothing
You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite the ushers to come on up. And we're gonna sing a song of gratitude from first Chronicles. Give thanks to the Lord that because he is good, his steadfast love, it endures forever. But before we sing, Ray, may I ask you to pray?
Sure. God, thank you for thank you for this gathering place, Lord. I thank you for being able to be together, gathered in your name, singing your praises amidst difficulty. Thank you. We're so thankful to have one another to be together.
We ask your blessing on this offering time, Lord, right now for whatever goes into these plates and whatever metaphorically goes into these plates. Whatever any of your humble and obedient servants are giving over to you, Lord, I pray that you would multiply it and bless it. Do your kingdom's work, advance the gospel of redemption in Jesus, salvation in Christ alone. I pray, Lord, that you would do your work here among us in our hearts and through us throughout this week. Show us your way, Lord, and allow us the grace and the spirit to walk in it.
We ask your blessing for your will to be done your way this morning. Amen.
All my words fall short.
I've got nothing new.
How could I spread all my gratitude? I can sing the song
as I often do, but every song must end.
I've got response. I've got just one room with my arms stretched wide. I will worship you.
Children's Church, I think, downstairs. I tend to wait for that little slide to come up, but
I think it's a Berkeley.
Oh, Berkeley. Oh. Do it again. Berkeley Johnson, would you come forward and do tell us who you are? Yes.
So we have been having our elders introduce themselves and do a quick testimony. And here here comes Berkeley, Johnston, the younger
elder. Thanks. Ray.
Thank you.
Sorry about the delay. I had to make sure my little three year old got off to children's church. Hello, church. First off, thank you so much for the honor and privilege of being a member of this church and being able to to serve this church. So, yeah.
I'll jump right into my testimony. I grew up in a church home that was really involved in our local church and really involved in young life. Awesome examples in both my parents of what it looks like to love Christ and to live it out. So I by the time I was in probably junior high, I had a really real and passionate relationship with God, which was amazing. That paired with my natural tendency to be an extreme rule follower though, which still carries on in many ways, led to me looking like a really good Christian.
I had a faith and I followed rules. So on the outside, I looked the part, which was great from the place it started, but it led to me focusing more on what my faith looked like and less on what my faith was and felt like. And, that led to a increase in my focus on looks and a decrease in God in my life. And that is something that I still fight to this day. I can get off kilter when I'm more focused about what I look like, how my life looks, than what my heart is actually like.
So first time I noticed that was in high school and it's still something that I have to push against and make sure that I'm not falling into. So that's high school. Oh, around that time I found a verse which is still my favorite verse today. Let me read that for you really quickly. It's Psalm eighteen two.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my savior. My God is my rock in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. So, I just love that idea of God being a fortress for us, a place to retreat to, to be safe, but also just that strong foundation that we build our life on. At 17, when I was a junior in high school, my dad passed away from a sudden heart attack.
Totally unexpected, and he was gone within half an hour, an hour. And naturally, from there, my world kind of fell apart, spiraled downwards kind of emotionally, mentally. And the only way to describe it is I truly physically felt like I was just spiraling downwards. And all of a sudden, I like hit a floor, which praise the Lord was not rock bottom, although it was that solid, but it was the foundation of the Lord. And I have I could feel him holding me up from going further downwards.
And I just think I thought straight back to that that Psalm where the Lord is my rock, and he truly was a rock that held me up. The other way that I describe kind of the aftermath of my father's death is if our faith is a house, as the Bible tells us. Thankfully, I had built my house on the rock, and that rock had sustained me. But, the house had been absolutely obliterated by that storm. I lost emotions, the ability to emotionally connect with God, the emotion the ability to emotionally connect with my friends and family.
So, I didn't really feel emotions for many years. And that is still a journey I'm on today fourteen years later, of building that house, the kind of emotional part of my faith back. I'm much better at emotionally connecting with God and my family, but it's still a journey that I'm working on and pushing towards. So, yeah. It's a slow it's a slow build back, but I'm still working on that personal connection, and in many ways it's much greater than it was before, and in some ways it's not where it was before he passed, and so it's a journey I'm still on today.
But as I look back over my life, and I look at the times of my best spiritual growth, and my closest intimacy with God. The common denominator for me is always when I'm living in a focused and intentional community of Christians and of Christian brothers. I want to read another verse about that. It's Hebrews ten twenty four and twenty five. And let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
That verse has played out really poignantly in my life whenever I'm with brothers and we're encouraging each other and living in fellowship, living in Bible study. We are running towards God. Whenever I have that tendency to not meet as the Bible was, that verse clearly calls out. That's when I drift away. That's when I start losing that emotional connection towards God again.
So, where are my notes? There they are. So, today I have an awesome community surrounding me. My amazing wife, who if any of you know her, know that she's much better than I am, and our three kids. We have a life group here at First and this just great at First B community in general, and then Men's Alliance, which I'm also a part of, which meets this Wednesday morning down the hall.
If any men want to come and join us for breakfast and the message, that'd be great. So, all of those things have led to kind of the passions with which I lead right now, and also into kind of the spiritual gifts. Someone once told me that if you don't know your spiritual gifts, ask your spouse. So, that's what I did. So, yesterday Grace told me that she believes my spiritual gifts are hospitality, service, and teaching.
Maybe not preaching, so don't worry Ray, but just teaching in general, helping people, specifically I I love hospitality and service. I love creating those environments of community whether it's at a Bible study or just for dinner and game night at our house. That's definitely a passion of mine and something that I think the Lord has put on my heart since a young age. So I'm looking forward to serving first b kind of in those capacities, encouraging community, encouraging fellowship, discipleship, Bible studies, things like men's alliance and the multiple women's Bible studies we have. So I'm really passionate and excited about those and excited about the community of this church.
So thank you all. Thanks, Ray.
Thank you, Berkeley. That's great. This is the sermon I didn't preach last week. The Olivet Discourse. Oh my goodness.
It's the longest discourse that Jesus has at one time with his disciples. And I mean, you thought the Sermon on the Mount was longest with everybody else. This is the longest discourse he has with his disciples. And before I start, I'm gonna tell you a little story from where we're in Mexico. There was a fellow that came down.
His job was product placement for AutoZone. He worked in the home office in Memphis and he said where the batteries go and he said where everything stands to get maximum customer engagement. And he came down and he worked with his hands on building a school for deaf kids in Mexico for a week. And on share night, when he stood up on Friday night, he goes, pray for me. He's kind of bent over.
Pray for me. I no longer care where the batteries go at audio zone. And when dealing with a hard week, hard grief, and family loss, I feel like this is where the batteries go at AutoZone. It's not, but I feel that way. So pray for me as I get through this.
The past two months, all of the sermons that I've done have been relational since December 31. Everything's been relational, not necessarily in chronological order like my sermons usually are. There are things that are pretty easy to interpret. Love one another is not hard to understand. It's hard to do.
So I've been saying things that are easy to interpret and hard to do. Well, the Olivet Discourse is famously hard to interpret and understand. If you wanted to know, there have been books and books and books and books and books written from lots of different perspectives on this because it's famously hard to interpret and understand and people tend to divide over this. Premillennial, postmillennial, amillennial, pre trib, post trib, panmillennial, panmillennial. Which one's that one?
Panmillennial, I had a professor that said he's panmillennial. It will pan out. That millennial will pan out. So what I decided to do this week is look for the commands from Jesus. There's a lot of verbiage here.
There are more words probably than I usually do in a given Sunday from Jesus. We're gonna roll through it on purpose, but we're looking for is the commands that are easy to understand and this is it. So the list of commands in the discourse, I'll bring this slide up every once in while and add to the list. I am going through it in Matthew. You can see it's longer in Matthew than it is in Mark or in Luke.
It's almost twice the length than Matthew. It's so that's why I'm going with Matthew. At the end, I'll come back and just give a nod to those other two guys. And we have communion today. So we're working towards that.
In context, this is immediately after last time I preached on this was two weeks before Christmas, so it's been a while. It was immediately after the seven woes to the Pharisees. The seven woes to the Pharisees. Number one, I won't read all of these slides, but I'll read what they're about. The number one, woe to the Pharisees because you'd missed Messiah.
And he's saying this directly to them. Woe to you Pharisees, hypocrites. You've shut off the kingdom of heaven because you shut me off. Don't you didn't just shut it off for yourself, but you shut it off for other people. You failed to recognize the Messiah.
Number two, the Pharisees specifically were superficially zealous outside zeal, but they were doing more harm than good. Did I mention that there were divisions? Right? Pharisees, Sadducees. Pharisees adamantly against Sadducees, adamantly against anybody that didn't agree with their particular theology.
And they were superficially zealous that did more harm though than good. They traveled around sea and land to make just one convert, and when they did, they made him twice as much a son of hell as themselves. Scathing. Jesus' hardest words always for the most religious. Number three, misguided use of scripture.
Woe to you for misusing scripture. Number in this case, they were equivocating. They were looking for loopholes. Well, if you swear by this, this is this is not really valid. But if you swear by this, it is valid.
They were becoming lawyers over what would stand and what would not stand. They were looking for loopholes and ways out. The center of a big chiasm in that was a fundamental failure to discern the entire thrust of scripture. God loves and he's making a way for people to be redeemed and he's calling them in and he's using his people to do that. But the Pharisees were guilty of failing to discern the thrust of scripture.
They were tithing mint and dill and cumin, but they were leaving out justice and mercy and faithfulness. You should do all of them, Jesus says. Get it. He's already mentioned three times in Matthew that he desires mercy and not sacrifice, acknowledgment of God rather than religious shows like birth offerings. So five goes back down the list, misguided use of scripture.
Number six is superficially zealous doing more harm than good. Seven is failure to recognize the prophets actually or the prophet really, Jesus. So right there in the middle of that, this is immediately before, immediately before what we're studying today. And I think that if we look at it as Christians, we can think of it examples either in our own lives or in our experience where we have fundamentally failed to discern the overwhelming thrust of scripture and we've gotten into the minutiae. Do you agree with me?
Yeah. Denominations. Oh, Jesus praying in the garden that we would be one and we denominate. We split our names apart. Jesus said the quick conclusion and lament.
This is where he says, oh, how I wanted to just gather all of y'all up under my wings like a mother hen does her chicks. Now this is where we're starting today. Jesus left the temple area, was going on his way when his disciples came up to him to point out the temple buildings to buildings. I imagine that this was almost like, good grief. Can you believe what he just said to those Pharisees?
I don't want for him to talk to me like that. Look at that building. Isn't it beautiful? And he responded to him and says, do you all not see all these things? I'm telling you this truly, not one stone here is gonna be left on another that won't be torn down.
Oh, well, that didn't didn't get him off subject, did it? And as he was sitting on the Mount Of Olives, this is overlooking the temple ground below. The disciples came to him privately and said, tell us, tell us, when will these things happen? We wanna know what will be the sign of your coming at the end and of the end of the age. Tell us, this is interesting.
If you want to make actually, was going say, if you want to if you want to make a lot of money on a book, come up with a new and different way of understanding eschatology and publish it as wide and far as you can. Cause people buy those books. People buy them and give them to me. L. Ron Hubbard, you know who that guy is?
L. Ron Hubbard said, if you wanna get rich quick, don't I don't I'm paraphrasing. He said, found a religion. Don't write a book, found a religion. Yeah.
People are so interested in stuff like this as evidenced by the disciples asking about stuff like this. And Jesus answered and said, see to it that nobody misleads you. See to it that nobody mislead you. That's a command. Don't get led astray.
For many will come in my name. They'll say, now I'm the Christ. Many will come in my name. They will claim Christ. I'm the Christ and they will mislead many people and you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars.
See to it that no one mislead you first on our list. The next one says, see to it that you're not alarmed. Don't get too upset about this stuff. That's what he's saying. Don't get overwhelmed with it for those things must take place.
There are gonna be wars, there are gonna be rumors of wars. It's gonna happen because people are people. It's not the end. Nation will rise against nation. Kingdom will come against kingdom and there will be famines and there will be earthquakes and there will be all of that stuff all over the world in various places.
But all these things are just the beginning of the birth pains. This has not come to pass yet. See to it that you're not alarmed. Don't get too upset by this stuff. Don't be misled by it and don't be upset by Then they will hand you over, disciples, to tribulation and they'll kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.
And at that time, many will fall away and they'll betray one another, they'll hate one another and many false prophets will rise up and they will mislead many people. Don't let it be you. He's already had that command. Don't be misled and don't be alarmed. The one who endures to the end Because lawlessness increased, would you all say lawlessness has increased?
Okay. Okay. Good. We agree about some. Most people's love will become cold.
But the one who endures to the end is the one who'll be saved. I put this in pink rather than the green because this is not explicitly a command. It's not an imperative. But do you see a command in there? The one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
So I'd say, let's add endure. Just keep on keeping on. Stay steady in the faith. All those things that are easy to understand but hard to do, you be paying attention to love one another. You be paying attention to the things that I've told you.
You be paying attention. He hasn't said it yet to this group of disciples, but it's coming. It's coming in two days. He's gonna gather them around the table and say, abide in me. Abide in me.
I'm the vine. You're the branches. Abide in me. Endure. The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations.
And then the end will come. Now from that little band of disciples, I'm sure they couldn't imagine it. You know, couldn't imagine that actually happening. But they were a part of it and for us, since I've been here, I can't tell you how many languages have the Bible. There are hundreds, thousands even of languages that when I arrived here as pastor did not have a Bible in their language and they do now.
And it's only a dwindling few. We're finishing that task. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken up through Daniel, I could go to Daniel here, I'm not going to. The prophet standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.
Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house, and whoever's in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those women who are pregnant, to those who are nursing babies in those days. Moreover, pray that when you flee, it will not be in winter or on the Sabbath for then there will be Now I haven't put commands up here. Actually, I I will say I think that this happened in seventy AD. I do think that this happened.
Some people don't think this happened. But I could back up and say, alright. Let the reader understand that's a command and then pray. For then there will be a great tribulation such as not occurred since the beginning of the world till now nor ever again. And if those days not been cut short, no life would have been saved.
But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short for the elect. Then if anyone says to you, behold, here's the Christ or he's over here, don't believe him. Thomas was present. Okay? Thomas, doubting Thomas, doubting Thomas heard Jesus say this on Tuesday.
And then when he shows up and he's like, I'm not gonna believe him until I see the side and see his hands. Like, Thomas was listening to Jesus. He gets a bad rap. I like Thomas. He was present.
Yeah. For false Christ and false prophets will arise and will provide great signs and wonders so as to believe if it were possible even elect is not. See to it that no one misleads you. Don't get overly alarmed. Just endure in what I've taught you.
Behold, I've told you in advance that if they say to you, behold, he's in the wilderness. Don't even go out there. Behold, he's in the inner rooms. Don't believe him. For just as lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the coming of the son of man be.
Can you hear thunder? Can you see lightning? Yeah. It's gonna be obvious. I think it's what Jesus is saying.
You don't have to get all upset and bothered about this. It's gonna be obvious. Whenever the corpse wherever the corpse is, there the vultures are gathered. It's just a fact of life. But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the noon will not give its light, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky.
Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they'll see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory, an image from Daniel, an image from Revelation. He will send forth his angels with a great trumpet blast and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. There's no command there. You don't have to be commanded to do this. He's gonna gather you together.
Don't worry about it. Don't be misled. Don't be alarmed. He's gonna do it. Rapture is described here, I believe.
That's not a biblical word, but it is described there. Now learn from the parable of the fig tree. As soon as a branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know summer is near. Can I get a witness? Oh my goodness.
So you too, when you see all these things, recognize that he is near. Right at the door. He's right at the door. He's close. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. I do not understand this. I'll just tell you. I don't get it. The how this generation I don't know.
So if you've got that question, you wrestle with it just like I wrestle with it. Alright? When he says that, I do believe verse 35, no doubt about his words. I'm sure that they're true. I just don't understand them.
So truly I say to you, I don't understand them. Recognize, that's not an imperative. It's not. It says, so too when you see all these things just you know. It's not even know.
It is. When you see all these things, you know that he's near. It's a statement of fact. It's not a command. So when it happens, you'll know.
Thank God. But about the day or the hour, no one knows. Not even the angels of heaven nor the son, but the father alone. Probably one of the other gospels that says no man knows the hour. There have been several ladies who stood up and said they did.
They started cults. Seriously? I'm not joking. Nobody knows. If anybody tells you they know on a billboard or on a track, they don't know.
Jesus says, they don't know. Becoming a 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 they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the son of man be. At that time, there'll be two in the field, one will be taken and one will be left. Two will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken, one will be left.
Oh, Larry Norman. Do all remember Larry Norman? Oh, you've been left behind. Do you remember the song? Oh, it's so scary.
We went to lock ins at church and we watched Thief in the Night and a few other. It was pre left behind series, but those next generation had the left behind books. There's a lot of scary there. This next verse says, therefore, be on alert. That is a command.
Be on alert. For you don't know when you which day is coming. So if you don't know and it's important that we might be about his business and you don't know when it's coming, then what is being on alert? Plotting, carrying on, doing what he told us to do. Be on alert.
Be sure of this. If the head of the house knew at what time the night the thief was coming, he would have been alert. Right? So be alert. Would not have allowed his house to be broken into for this reason, you just gotta be ready.
So be alert, be sure of this, and you must be ready at all commands. The son of man is coming at hour when you don't think he will. So just be about his business all the time. Be on alert. These are the commands so far.
These are the things you can do something about. The rest of it is his business on his timetable. Be sure that Jesus will return so you you could stay alert. You must be ready. Oh, gracious.
I almost went into James Brown's sermon from the Blues Brothers right there. Don't be lost when the time comes. Right? So good. Cleopas James.
Abide in me, Jesus is saying, and you'll be alright. Abide in me and you'll be alright. Yes. It's scary times. But you ask the question, disciples.
You ask the question because it's interesting. I think his commands are what's important. Who then is faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household slaves to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave who his master finds so doing when he comes. Just be about the business I told you to be about.
Truly, I say to that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave says in his heart, my master is not coming. I'll do whatever I want to for a long time. And he begins to beat his fellow slaves, beating them up. He eats and he drinks with those habitually drunk.
He the master of slave will come on today when he doesn't expect at an hour that he does not know and he will cut him into and assign him a place with the hypocrites, just actors. At that place, there will be weeping, gnashing of teeth heavy, Jesus. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like comparable to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Five of them were foolish, five of them were imprudent. And when the foolish took their lamps, they didn't take any extra oil with them.
But the prudent ones took oil in the flask with their lamps. Now while the groom was delaying, they all became drowsy, began to sleep. But at midnight, there was finally a shout. Behold, the groom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins got up, trimmed their lamps.
But the foolish ones said to the prudent ones, give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out. However, the prudent ones said, no. There most certainly would not be enough for us and you too, so go instead, get your own. But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the groom came. Those who were ready in with him to the wedding feast, the door was shut.
Yet later, other virgins also came saying, Lord, Lord, open up for us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I don't know you. Be on the alert then. So be about the business. Be about the business of what he's put us in the business of doing because you don't know the day nor the hour.
So just really be into it. Be on alert. Again, for it's just like a man who's about to go out on a journey, call his slaves, and entrusted his possession. One, gave 5 talents. The other two, the other one according to his own ability and he went on his journey.
Different gifts, different abilities, levels of ability to one had received five, immediately went out, did business, earned five more. The same way the one who received two went out, earned two more. But the one who had just one talent went away, dug a hole in the ground, hid his master's money. And after a long time, the master of those sleuth came and settled accounts with him. The one who received the five talents came up and brought more, five more talents saying, master, you entrusted these to me.
I've been about your business. Here's five more. Master said, well done, good and faithful slave. You're faithful of the few things I'll put you in charge of many. Enjoy.
Enter the joy of your master. And also, the one who received two talents came up and said, master, you entrusted two to me. See, I've earned two more. His master said, well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things.
I'll put you in charge of many. Enter the joy of your master. Now the one who received one also came up and said, master, I knew you'd be a hard man, reaping where you didn't sow, gathering where you didn't, scatter seed, and I was afraid. So I went out, I hid your towel on the ground. So you still have what's yours?
I haven't anything else. But his master answered and said, you worthless lazily. So didn't you know that I reap where I didn't sow and gather where I didn't scatter? Then you ought to put my money in the bank and on my arrival, I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore, take that talent away from him, give it to the one who has the 10 talents.
He wasn't busy about his master's business. He he was afraid. He wasn't looking to gain anything for the master or for himself. For everyone who has more should be given, he'll have an abundance, but the one who doesn't have even what he does have will be taken away. For other worthless save in the outer darkness in that place there will be weeping, gnashing of teeth.
Hard words from Jesus. But when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him and then he will sit on his glorious throne, all the nations will be gathered before him. He'll be separated. All the nations are gathered before him. That sounds like from diverse backgrounds everywhere else out of all the nations and into the one family of God.
The church triumphant. All the nations will be gathered before me. He'll separate them from one another just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He'll put the sheep on his right, the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you 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, you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came to me. Everybody gathered and then the separation is over who is doing this business. It goes on, the righteous will answer, Lord, when did we do that? When did we see you hungry, feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and bite you under naked and clothed you?
When did we see you sick in prison and come to you? And the king said to him, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of even the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me. So on our list of commands, although it's not imperative, it's not a command, it is just taken from what Jesus sees and recognizes. I think we can put this on our implicit ones. Be feeding the hungry.
Be inviting the stranger and foreigner in. Be clothing the naked helping the poor. Be visiting the sick and those who are in prison. The same thing but in a negative context is here. Then he'll say those on his left, y'all depart from me.
You're cursed into eternal fire because you didn't feed. You didn't give to drink. You didn't do these things. And they'll say, wait a second. We didn't know it was you.
What? What's going on, Lord? When did you we see you hungry or thirsty or strangled or naked or sick or imprisoned and didn't take care of you. He'll answer them and say, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you didn't do it for me either. And these will go away in the eternal punishment, the righteous into eternal life.
Woah. That is the Olivet Discourse. It is heavy, but it's not heavy for the reasons we think it's heavy. It's not trying to give us a code to figure out whether it's pre post amillennial. It's saying, y'all be loving one another so well together that people see it and are drawn to it.
Y'all be loving one another so well that you stir each other up like Berkeley said, into love and good works so that you will do these things in pink right here at the bottom. Y'all be doing this. Be about the business. And that's the list of commands in Matthew. If you look at the ones in Mark, take heed lest anyone mislead you saying, take heed, you will have an opportunity to witness.
You will. Okay. That's terrifying. But the next one is, don't be anxious about it. For I will give you the words at the right time.
You don't even have to think about it ahead of time. I'll go to it in Luke in a minute. It says the same thing. Endure. Pray that it may not be winter.
Oh, can I get a witness? Pray that it may not be winter. Don't believe the crazy people, conspiracy theorists, the new messiahs. It hurts our witness when we believe that nonsense. Do not be misled.
Stick to what the word says. Stick to what it says. And if you find it difficult to understand, admit that it's difficult to understand, flip the page, find something that's easy to understand and do it. Right? Love one another.
Help the poor. Don't believe the crazy people. Okay. Take heed. Listen to what I've already said.
Learn the parable of the fig tree. It's gonna be obvious. No. Recognize that the son of man is near. I'm right here.
Lo, I'll never leave you or forsake you. Take heed because you all don't know the time. You're not gonna know the time. Be watchful. Watch out because it will happen suddenly, so always be working.
Commands in Luke are very similar. Take heed lest anyone lead you astray. Don't be terrified. Settle it in your minds not to be anxious beforehand or make up any defense ahead of time. I'll give you the words.
My spirit dwells within you. Patiently endure and by this, will gain souls. Your souls it says. But I think that's the investment. Look up, lift your heads because your redemption is drawing near.
We are one day closer today than we were yesterday to the end of time. Behold the fig tree. And then I'll close this with this and we'll lead into communion. But be on your guard so that your hearts will not be weighed down. Be on your guard so that your hearts will not be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life, anxiety, and that this day will not come on you suddenly like a trap.
You can be looking forward to it at the same time as you can work to bring other people into the family of God. Let's not miss the fundamental fundamental thrust of scripture that it is a love letter to the world trying to draw people in. It's an invitation to draw people into the family of God. If we unify and we love one another well and we come together in his name, he will draw people into his family. Can I get the elders to come forward?
God Almighty, I thank you for I thank you for the diversity of backgrounds in this room this morning from all of the different denominational backgrounds, for all of the different ethnic backgrounds, for all the different family families of origin. I'm thankful. Babies all the way up to seasoned citizens gathered in your name across the generations, across ideologies of origin. You have called us into your continuing work. May we be spreading it, Lord.
I ask your blessing on this cracker, this little bit of bread, and this time where we celebrate the life that you lived out. You walked out in obedience to the spirit, Lord. You walked it out. Though you were tempted, you were without sin. May we follow in your humility.
May we take this in in obedience to your command. In Jesus name, I ask your blessing as we distribute this little representation of your body. Amen.
Confess bowing here. I find my rest without you. I fall apart. You're the one that guides my heart. Lord, I need you.
Oh, I need you. You. And breathe out. I need you. My one defense, my righteousness.
Oh, God, how I need him. Where sin runs deep, your grace is mourned. Where grace is found is where you are.
And where you are, Lord, I am free.
On the same evening that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread after supper and he broke it. And he said to his disciples who were there with him and his voice rings on and says to us, here now. Says this is my body which is given for you voluntarily, sacrificially. This is my body which is given for you. Take this, take it in, eat of it as often as you will in remembrance of me.
I thank you, Jesus, for your humble example that you followed. But, Lord, that humble example without the voluntary and sacrificial spilling of blood would have been just a good example. You are the exact representation of God almighty. You showed the love he has in spilling your innocent blood by offering your perfect record to anyone who would believe. In Jesus name, we pray because of that.
Would you bless, Lord, this little representation, a plastic cup of grape juice? Would you would you bless that for each one who would partake? Lord, that you would commune with them. Amen.
There's a place where mercy reign and never die. There's a place where streams of grace flow deep and wide. And all the love I've ever found Comes like a flood Comes flowing out At the cross, I can cross I surrender my life I'm in awe, to you, Jesus. There's a place where sin and shame are powerless. Where my heart has peace with God and forgiveness.
I'm where your love and
red and my sins washed white. I owe to you. I owe to you, Jesus.
Indeed, Lord, we owe it all to you. Just like you had taken the bread, you also took the cup after supper. Jesus took the cup after supper and he said to his disciples there, I'm sure it was a common cup in their time, and he offered it. This is the new covenant in my blood. Take this, take it in, do it as often as you will in remembrance of me.
Amen. Amen.
Can we finish out with a Doxology. Doxology? Yeah. We'll do that. There we are.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise father, son, and holy ghost. Amen.
I've got a little bit of a benediction here for you. It's the same thing. Peter's saying basically the same thing Jesus just told us. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that he will bring you up at the right time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Be sober. Be on the alert. You do have an adversary. That devil is prowling around like a roaring lion. He's seeking someone to devour.
Don't be misled by him. Resist him. Firm in the faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you've suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, he will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever.
