Some of you who are not as young as others would remember George Beverly Shea singing that. I wonder how many times Billy Graham got up to preach with Beverly Shea having just sung that song. I'd rather have Jesus than anything. Turn with me to Mark 13 again, we're at verse 24 and we're going to go all the way to the end. Today, we've gone through most of the situations, we'll recap some and we'll lay them out and the rest will be for your own study. As you continue in your journey of faith, let's pray before we begin. Our father, we come to you and. Most of us in our minds. In the data bank that we have in our Thoughts. We know the value. Of knowing Jesus. Or more importantly, as Paul said to the Galatians, having been known by him. Father, I pray that as Clint has reminded us, I pray that it's not just something rattling around in our brains, but it is something that is transforming our lives. The truth of the words that Christ is the only way. And as Jesus admonishes his disciples not to be weighed down by the cares of this life, Our Father, I pray that it's not that we're singing we'd rather have Jesus, but we live for the things of this world. We have our Bibles open with us. We live in comfort and freedom, Father, experienced by Few in the world, relatively speaking. As we're able to open them any time. We're able to live them out even in a freeway, though we may be looked at strangely or we may even begin to feel some. Some of the pain of Austria's being ostracized or. Thought foolish, but I pray, Lord, that you would help us to stand courageous, that we would be good stewards of the liberty and the freedom with which you have blessed us. And that brings to mind the natives in the jungle in Papua New Guinea, the Housleys, the Moors, are ministering to, those original villagers that they have taught the gospel to, and now they might sing this, that they would rather have Jesus than what they've known before, and them taking the gospel to the next village and to the next village. And we think of Jim and Karen Albright in Italy, Lord, as they present the gospel of grace. In a land that is steeped in tradition. Steeped in history. But by all indications is. In most ways, far from you. Would you bless their ministry? I pray for the wheelers who are home from Turkey for a respite, a sabbatical. Refresh them and give them direction. For Jim Elliffe, who writes here in the states in Kansas City, for Chris Bass in Boston, for Those across the country that we know who are faithful to the gospel we pray. For those in our city and those that we know and around us. As men stand in pulpits this morning. In church after church after church after church. Father I pray that you would quicken hearts that they might sing. This very same song. That they would rather have Jesus. Or I pray that maybe even this morning right here. That song may come to one who's never thought that. And so, Lord, as we open your word this morning, this Jesus that we've sung about, I pray you would give us a clear understanding, a clearer understanding of. What the future holds. Who is who he was when he was here, what he did when he was here. As he was crucified. According to the scriptures and raised again, according to the scriptures. And just as Jerusalem fell and the temple was obliterated, as he said it would, that he'll one day return and wrap up history in this world that we know. Father, teach us. Help us. Pour Your Spirit down upon us and fill us within. Our only teacher and our true guide. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, I was reading an essay from Boram this week. Most of you know that he's one of my favorite devotional writers. The article is entitled The Blessed Word which. And he opened it with a testimony. The man was giving his testimony. He said he lived a life of drunkenness. He said in that life of drunkenness, his wife had a miserable time with him. He said, but she bore it like a saint. She never murmured. We trekked through. And he said, in those days, he said, I had no clothes except for the very clothes that I stood in. all that I had. I had squandered, I had wasted away our resources. And as he was sharing his testimony, he said, last year I started going to church with my wife and then one night I was converted. The Lord saved me. He transformed me. He said, what a difference it made. And his picture of what a difference it made as he was sharing his testimony with this man was he said the other night I was downstairs my wife was upstairs and I said dear when you come down would you please bring me my clothes. And she said which. And he said oh it made me feel good to hear her ask me that. And I've been thanking. the Lord all day for that blessed word which. He had a choice. He had two pairs of clothes, two suits. He now had an option. Couldn't wear both at the same time, but it was a blessing to have a choice, the gray suit, he says, or the black suit. Now, whichever one he wore, it made no difference, really, to him. It made no difference to his wife. She would still be proud of him. She would still follow him. It made no difference at all to the world around him which suit he wore. But the point is that the possession of two suits gave him this precious privilege of choice. And so it was at that point that I thought about you. We've been going through Mark, Chapter 13, and we've really looked at sort of four views on how people look at Mark. Chapter 13, some look at Mark, Chapter 13, it's all in the future. Speaking of the second coming of Jesus, only in to gather around the news or or the TV and work very hard to see how everything that's happening now fits into the return of Jesus Christ. That would be one view. It's all future. The other view is it's all past. Mark chapter 13 is all about the fall of Jerusalem and the leveling of the temple. It's all history. Jesus coming, as we'll look in verse 26, was a spiritual coming in judgment, nothing more to happen for the disciples. It was prophecy as Jesus was speaking it, but for us it's just a historical narrative of what happened to Jerusalem. So that would be a second view. One, it's history, and one, it's all future. The third view would be it's the first half of chapter 13 is about the past, and the second half is about the future. That would be The third view, verse 19 on, begins the things about the future, the second coming of Christ, 1 through 18, I mean, yeah, 1 through 18 is about the past. So that's the third view. The fourth view is what I've been trying to gather one in my thoughts and explain that it's like a twisted rope with two strands that this future end and the past are intertwined together through the text. At times it's talking about 70 A.D. and at times it's talking about the second coming of Christ and then at other times it's talking about both in that what happens in 70 foreshadows what's going to happen in the end. Well, the reason I thought about you in this essay on which I just thought about what if throughout the congregation here we had that little thing above your head you know and that kind of gives your thoughts and would you be one two three or four and probably a fifth with a handful of question marks and you know which which is it that you are holding leaning toward holding on to. And just in confession to you I am most probably not always consistent with my where I come down and how it all fits together. This is a hard passage to really make everything fit. And so therefore we shouldn't be dogmatic. The fact that there's four views that godly and faithful men and women on all sides hold these different views shows us the difficult passage and it's a clear indication it helps us say we see through a glass darkly now one day we'll see face to face one day it'll all be over and maybe one of our views would be right. They can't all be right but they could all be wrong and so we're not sure exactly how it's going to work out. And so I would say just don't let anyone tell you this is an essential or that you ought to have a dogmatic position. You may have one but hold on to it loosely. This is not one of the main things, because we know that, because it's not one of the clear things in the scripture as to how this is all going to play out. So, what we're going to do, we are going to finish. I've got three sections. I don't know what Bible you have, but there's three paragraphs left. The titles are The Coming of the Son of Man, The Lesson of the Fig Tree, and No One Knows That Day or Hour, according to the ESV Bible. And we're just going to look at each one of them. On the surface, kind of going through it, then we'll comment as we go. So let's read 24 through 27 together. If you remember. Last week, we we talked about the abomination of desolation. Standing there, that is something that happened when the Romans entered into the temple. The Romans brought their standards of the emperor into that city and desecrated the temple completely. That was even foreshadowed in 165 B.C. when Antiochus Epiphanes, the Assyrian king who the Syrians were ruling the Jews, and he came in and slaughtered a pig on the altar and tried to do away with Jewish faith completely, set up a statue of their gods. But also we talked or I think that's a foreshadowing of the ultimate and final abomination of desolation that would happen. But 14 through 23 is pretty much focusing on the fall of Jerusalem. And so here he comes in verse 24. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will be falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. Again, I would call attention you have in the bulletin, Matthew, Mark and Luke and the three versions. I'm going to refer to them quite a bit today as they supplement one another, they complement one another. And in particular, at the end, I want to look at Luke a little closer than the rest of them. So we have to answer the question here now that he goes, but in those days after that tribulation and gives these signs of in the sun and the moon and the stars falling from heaven, the powers of heaven shaken. Is this information about what's going to happen in the future or is this Still, is Jesus still telling them what's going to happen when Jerusalem is leveled, when Jerusalem falls in 70 A.D.? And I think he's talking about something in the future. He says, after that tribulation, and you see, Matthew says immediately after that tribulation, and you go back up to verse, is it 19? As he's talking about the abomination of desolation as Jerusalem falls in those days, there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of creation to now. the beginning of creation that God created until now and never will be. I think the never will be pushes us forward into the future. But the focus of that is the tribulation that is happening in the fall of Jerusalem. And now he says in those days after that tribulation, I think this is something that happens subsequent to the fall of Jerusalem. All of those things that happen there. The second thing about this is are these signs the sun will be dark and the moon will not give us like the stars the heavens being shaken are they literal or figurative. The different signs, the signs of the fall of Jerusalem is the army surrounding Jerusalem. As we saw, as Luke says, when you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, there's the signs of the fall of Jerusalem. Now there's some other signs, the heavens being torn apart or at least in tumult. The question is, is this physically going to happen or is this figuratively going to happen? Prophetic passages are often full of these kinds of signs. You go back and read the prophets and it's a regular way of speaking of judgment that comes and even the future that comes, especially through the prophets. It's not always literal. Sometimes it's literal. If it is literal, And there's no real reason to rule it out. But if it is literal, notice what the order, the process that Jesus gives. The sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. Of course, the moon won't give its light. There's no sun. It's got no light of its own. So there's a general if the sun falls down, there's no light for the moon to give and the stars will be falling from heaven. So anyway it is it is it literal is it figurative. I'm not sure. But we do know from Luke look at verse 26 of Luke. People will be fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world for the powers of heaven will be shaken whatever these signs are literal or figurative. is it men are going to fight for fear. There is going to be a terror as the signs appear and the signs play themselves out. Then he said verse twenty six then they will see the man son of man coming in clouds with. Then then they will see the son of man coming in clouds with power and great glory. Notice on the Matthew passage where he says it right here 30 and 31. I believe it is. then will appear in heaven the sign of the son of man and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and they were gathered his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Well when this happens all the tribes of earth will mourn. In the destruction of the capital, when Jerusalem is destroyed and the temple is laid waste, if you took a poll of the nations who knew that happened in Jesus' days, they would be very glad. They would be joyful when Jerusalem fell. The Jews were not the most favorite people of the world. But when this happens, all the tribes of the earth are going to mourn. He sends his angels out with a trumpet call and gathers the elect. That's the first order of business. When Jesus comes back, he's going to gather his elect from the four winds. And then look, Luke 21 verse 28. Now, when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. It seems to me the language is so much like First Thessalonians chapter four. that we just read. Let me just read for you two verses. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with a voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God. Matthew alludes to the trumpet and the angels. And the dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive and who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so will always be with the Lord. It also made me think of Acts chapter 1. You remember as Jesus is about to ascend to the right hand of the Father and the disciples said, are you going to do it now to restore the kingdom? And Jesus said, don't worry about that. You just go take the gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth. And Jesus is taken up on a cloud out of sight. And when he had said these things as they were looking on he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight and while they were gazing into heaven as he went. Behold two men stood by them in white robes and said men of Galilee. Why do you stand looking into heaven. This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven on a cloud. That's an above verse. will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. So that's why some of the reasons why I think verse 24 through 27 moved to the forward to the second coming of Christ and verse 35 has you drop down in Luke 21. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth, not just localized there in Jerusalem. It's all who will dwell on the face of the whole earth. So, it just seems to me that the destruction of the temple did not affect didn't come upon all who dwell on the face of the earth. It refers to something. This refers to something that comes upon all at least a part of this passage of chapter 13 looks forward to the end of all things. So when Jesus is saying when these signs appear and these things unfold, there will be an indication of the consummation of the end of the age that it's near. It's at hand. And then they will see the son of man come in great power and glory. in such a way that all the tribes of the earth will be aware of his arrival and they will mourn. There will be some terror. Doesn't tell us the exact timing, but we can be confident our redemption, lift up your heads, your redemption draweth nigh. If you remember your King James and the end of the age is about to dawn upon us. So that's 24 through 27. I think the heading there is right. It's the coming of the Son of Man, the second coming of the Son of Man. That was prefigured in His coming in judgment spiritually on Jerusalem, but I think clearly we have the second coming. Now, verse 28 to 31. Let's read this from the lesson from the fig tree learn its lesson. It's interesting if you remember is Jesus is first coming into Jerusalem. He has the episode with the fig tree. Remember right here right near the Mount of Olives as they're approaching Jerusalem. He curses the fig tree and it shrivels up and the next day he explains to them what's happened with the fig tree. Well now they're sitting on the Mount of Olives. Across looking across the valley kid run that Jerusalem and now he pulls out another lesson from the fig tree and he says this learn this lesson as soon as this branch becomes tender and puts out leaves you know that summer is near. So also when you see these things taking place you know that he is near at the very gates. And then verse 30. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. So, Jesus points across. Look at this fig tree here. When it sprouts leaves, obvious it's summer. And in the same way, When you see these things happening, he says, you can know the kingdom is near. What I think just a summary, what he's saying here is when when Jerusalem falls in 70 A.D., there is nothing left to happen to prevent Jesus return. I think that's the point of what he's saying here. We'll walk through it. After the temple comes down there's nothing that needs to happen before the Lord Jesus comes back. He said what's going to happen in Jerusalem in 70 AD. Then he indicates what will happen after that tribulation. He says when you look back and you see that Jerusalem failed just like I said it would. You can be sure that my words will not pass away concerning my second coming. Remember the picture of the mountain approaching two mountains. And the farther off you are, it looks like they're almost right one in front of the other until you get closer and you see that there's a big valley in between two mountains. We talked about Jerusalem, 70 A.D., being the front mountain and then the second coming being the second mountain. And so Jesus is on this side looking at these two mountains. He's teaching his disciples. And there's a sense in which there's this, you know, zooming in and zooming out on one mountain or the other. They can't really see. And then they get closer and they begin to see that there's two things he's talking about. And now on the other side of the fall of Jerusalem, they're standing in between the mountains, same place we're standing. And we see clearly that much of this has to do with what's already happened. And the point of the fig tree, Jesus is saying that when you see all of these things happen, be sure was a verse thirty one. Heaven and Earth will pass away, my words will not pass away, you be sure that second coming is going to come, just like I said it would. So. But the question is. What's this generation? Truly, I say to you, verse 30, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. You ought to see or you ought to come into the library. By the way, Cheryl Moore is putting all these books in the library that we have in there. If you've ever seen the library, it has been a she is a jewel. Thank you, Cheryl. She's putting it into a database. Corey and Kristen are then coming along and shelving it to where you can find it. Get all the commentaries on Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, and read about what is Mark 1330, this generation. And you need about a month. They all talk about what is this generation that won't die out until all these things come to pass. They're all over the map. They all acknowledge it's a difficult passage. It's long the center of debate. I told you what we thought in the 70s. We didn't read all of the chapter. We just saw this generation wouldn't come to pass. And in the 70s, when Israel became a nation in 1948, Jesus was going to be back within 40 years. 1988 was the key. This generation won't, when you see these things happening, these things happened, Israel became a nation. Well, we got to 1989, we said, oh, hang on a minute, that wasn't quite it. Maybe it's not 40 exactly. Then, oh, well, wait a minute, 1967, we changed the date to the Six-Day War. And so 1967 moved us up to 2007. Well, here we are, 2012, you know, and it just didn't work very well. Here's what James Boyce says about this passage. He says, the easy part is over, now come to the part that has given the most trouble to Bible students and commentators. As he works through this section, he says, in one place, I appreciate James Boyce, if you've ever heard James Boyce speak, He's a grand, grand intellectual mind and a gospel preacher. And he says in one place, he said, I have the foggiest idea what this is about. I mean, you know, I just, but we don't want to be daunted. We don't want to get bogged down, but we do want to investigate this and see what it could possibly mean. Let me just say, the first point, if you're looking at chapter 13, it's all history, you got no problem at all. You see, Jesus is talking to his disciples. He said, Jerusalem's going to fall. He says it in this longer way. And the generation that sees these things happen aren't going to die out. And it happened in about 40 years from when Jesus taught. And so, therefore, it worked just fine. And if you hold this all the future, I mean, it's all the past, you got no problem with this generation. Though, I think there's problems with with verses 24 through 27 and then the end section. But this is a straightforward laying out the time frame. If Chapter 13 is all in the past, the events will happen before this generation passes. The sun, the moon, the stars are figurative. There's no reason to go beyond 70 A.D. for Jesus' message. And many godly, intelligent folks hold this view. B.R.C. Sproul's view, by the way. There's a number of other explanations about what verse 30 means. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. One is that Jesus was wrong. We don't have any liberal commentaries, but I know if you can find some liberal commentaries, they would say, well, Jesus just kind of got it wrong. Of course, that's unacceptable to us. Another view would be a generation is a kind of people. Luke uses the generation in this way, let me read you just a couple of verses. Jesus answered and said, O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? You twisted people. It's a kind of people that are evil. The kind of Jews that Jesus had to deal with while he was here on earth who were always his enemies, that generation, that kind of people. In 16, Luke says, the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation. than the sons of life. And we even go to Psalm 12. Oh, Lord, you, oh, Lord, will keep them. You will guard us from this generation forever. This kind of people. That would be how some take it. And so when he says I say to you this generation this kind of people will not pass away until Jesus comes back. You know the evil anti Christian people and in particular many of those would come to the conclusion is the Jews and the Jews won't die out until Jesus comes back. But of course they won't. Um, if you have a new American, you have a note that, that helps you along with the interpretation of generation. And if you see your footnote in your new American, it says race. And so that's people glom onto that and say, definitely that's the Jews. Uh, Hendrickson, that would be Hendrickson and Albert Barnes, if you know those commentators, but I still think there's problems with all of those. So, here's what I think this generation is about. As I said, Jesus is moving back and forth between 70 and the end of time, between the destruction of Jerusalem and the return of Christ. Some parts have to do with 70, some parts have to do with the second coming, and then some have to do with the whole age. Here's what Spurgeon says about this passage. Jesus appears to have purposely mingled prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem and the second coming. So that here's why Jesus intertwines these so that. There's. There should be nothing in his words to satisfy the curious. but everything to keep his disciples always on watch for his appearing. He's not answering everything to satisfy all of our curiosity. But what he is doing is he's giving them instructions to always be on watch for his second coming for his appearing and he says that. What happened in Jerusalem is a partial fulfillment that came upon guilty Jerusalem and it is a partial fulfillment or a foreshadowing of the judgment at the end of the world. So the challenge in 13 is to see what points Jesus moves from one to the other from 70 AD to the future. The real dilemma, again, as I see it, is the generation won't pass away till all these things. The generation that heard it passed away. Right? Those disciples, that generation, those who heard what Jesus thought, have passed away and it's not the end of the world yet. Jesus hasn't come back yet. So, here's where I've ended. Probably won't be satisfying to you. It's not completely satisfying to me, but it's the best I can come up with putting all of this together. OK. And just to say when it comes to the essentials of the faith, we must be unified. If we're talking about who Jesus is. What he did. If we're talking about the the. The sufficiency of Scripture, if we're talking about Father, Son and Holy Spirit co-equal and co-eternal in the Trinity, we have to be we have to stand together and fight for the for those truths to be strong and affirming. But where there's questions and We find differences between these godly people, faithful commentators, Christians all throughout church history. We ought to be wary of this undue dogmatism. Not everyone is, but some of the worst dogmatism throughout the ages has come, and where we should be most undogmatic But Jesus seems to be very sure and straightforward about the generation that will not pass away. Look at it. Truly, I say to you, I don't know if you have two Verily's in the King James. Verily, verily, I say this is true. He's. He's sure he's straightforward, that generation will not pass away. This generation, the one to whom he is speaking, the one that verse twenty nine that sees these things. So also when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. The generation is alive to see these predictions come to fulfillment. That generation won't pass away till they all take place. Mark is. Seems to me he's very precise in his language. And he contrasts these things with those things. So go back to verse four in your Bibles where the first question comes up. Tell us when all these things will be. Tell us when these things, when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished. That's verse four. Now go down to verse eight. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will be famines. These are but the beginning of birth pangs. These, these things, it's the same in the Greek. These things are but the beginning of birth pangs. Then you don't see these things until verse 29. So, when you see these things taking place, you know he is near at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will pass away. All that seems to be describing the fall of Jerusalem. And it seems to me that the lesson of the fig tree in this generation, he has gone back to answering the original question about these things in contrast to verse 32. But concerning that day. And he comes back to the future. on verse thirty two but of that day and hour no one knows not even the angels in heaven nor the sun but only the father be on your guard and keep away. He's saying this generate he knows for sure this generation is not going to pass away but he doesn't know. He says at least in his humanity at this time he doesn't know when that day is going to happen. So, these things describe the fall of Jerusalem. That day, he moves to the future. My feet are not firmly planted here. But it seems to me, verse 28 through 31, go back and answer the original question about the fall of Jerusalem while 32 and on refer to the end of the age, his second coming. And I'm sure that you would ask me, how can you jump around like that to make it say what you wanted to say to match your view and. That that that is a good question. But I'm really not trying to jump around, I'm just trying to make sense of it, that's what I'm trying to do. I wish there was a simpler way to look at. That made that everything fit. And again, we don't want to be dogmatic. But this idea of zooming in and zooming out, the first event and the second event, just seems to be what Jesus is doing here. It comes back to the original question about what? Yes, when the temple is going to be knocked down, when these things happen, that generation that sees, that generation, this generation will see that happen. So apart from verse 24 through 27 so far, everything refers back to the fall of Jerusalem when the temple was going to be knocked down. And I think what Jesus is saying is, look, all of that happened. Oh, when you see all of that happened to us, all of that happened, you be sure that there's going to come a day that is going to overtake you like a thief in the night if you don't watch, if you don't pray, if you don't avoid what Luke lists there, dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of the world. It's going to catch you like a thief in the night. Jerusalem fell. And just as sure as that happened as a historical event, His second coming is going to happen and he will judge the world and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess he is Lord to the glory of the Father. So be watchful, be prayerful, be prepared and that's where he goes with the rest of the passage. It's a foreshadowing. The fall of Jerusalem is the foreshadowing of the Second Coming. Again, these are peripheral issues. They're not central. They're secondary and not primary. The central thing is the bodily, physical return of Jesus Christ to the earth in power, in great glory, where he'll separate the sheep and the goats, one into eternal bliss and the other one the goats into eternal destruction. There's no ambiguity to that. So, as to these things and this generation, study your Bibles. Read reputable people. And you'll be all over the map and you'll come to... In fact, you know, I told you I heard Alistair Begg, priest of His Congregation, says you're sensible people. I found out where he gets that from. He gets that from Paul writing to the Corinthians, the church that was a mess. But he says, you're sensible people. You can figure this out. You can study this out. So you have to do that. So, Mark 13, first four verses, what brought about the discussion. Five through eight, he warns his disciples about being deceived. Don't be deceived and don't be discouraged. Nine through 13, he tells them they're going to be, they will be persecuted. He says you're going to have help, don't worry about what you're going to say. The spirit that he teaches them about in the upper room in John 14, 15, and 16, he says the spirit is going to help you know what to say when they bring you before the judges, when you're standing before the authorities. You're going to have that help. Luke says it's not a hair, Jesus says, Luke says Jesus said not a hair of your head is going to perish. Endure to the end and you'll be saved. Then 14 through 23, the abomination of desolation, he speaks about in the destruction of Jerusalem. 24 through 27, he then talks about the second coming. And now 28 through 31, he says, be watchful, be ready. The events that led to 70 AD, because when they happen, they will give an indication that what he said about the end of the age will surely happen. Yeah, he said it was near and you say it's not near. It wasn't near, but it is near and it always will be near until he comes back. You get overly concerned about how near is it? Nearer than we woke up this morning. I don't know how near. I don't know what will be that day when the Father says to the Lord, Jesus, stand up, it's time to go. Go gather them all and judge them all. The emphasis that Jesus has here is not that it's soon, but to be ready. Nothing else that needs to happen. You need to watch because I'm going to return and no one knows when. And then the rest of the chapter of Mark the rest of the chapter of Luke and the rest of the chapter of Matthew is the ethical call. Mark gives a general warning. We've seen I think let's see five times he uses a word that's translated either be on your guard or take heed. Five times in Chapter 13, Mark says, be on your guard, take heed. Three times he says, stay awake. Here right at the end, stay awake. So there's a general call by Mark to stay awake that Mark records for us. Luke, on the other hand, gets much more specific. He says, don't get weighed down with dissipation, with drunkenness of the cares of the world, and stay awake by praying. So, Mark is a general attitude of how we're to live our lives in light of the second coming of Christ. Luke calls us to action. All right, stay awake, be on guard. But here's how you do that. Here's how you can stay and be ready. So, I want to focus in on Luke here at the end. Beginning in verse 34, but watch yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down. Watch yourself, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life. And that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man. Seems to me that day is going to affect everyone. To some second coming of Christ, the heart of the teaching is ethical, not speculative. The heart of all second coming teaching in scripture is therefore do this. It's not given to us. It's not given to us to spend our time discussing and trying to figure out the chronology of all of the events. I'm not saying that's not important, but the important point of what Jesus is teaching. How then shall we live? With all of this in mind, with one through thirty one in mind of Luke. Or one through thirty two. Thirty three. What do we do about it? You're not telling them simply to increase their knowledge, but to change their lives is so easy to get off point here and get like the Corinthians who were puffed up with their knowledge, Jesus is not giving some some enigmatic code teaching to for certain people to figure it all out and for us to listen to those certain people. He's teaching his disciples to be prepared for their lives to be transformed so that whatever comes their way. They're ready. They're prepared. They're not going to fall away. They have an ethical point. As we read, 1 Corinthians 4, that the Lord's going to descend with a shout and the voice of an archangel and the trumpet's going to blast and the dead in Christ will rise first and we who are alive and remain will be caught up together to meet Him in the air and we'll be with Him forever. Therefore, Paul says, encourage one another with these words. And then we read down in the last verse that we read, therefore, encourage one another with these words and build up one another. Of First Corinthians 15, that section begins 51 down to the end where it says, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we'll not all die, but we'll all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And he closes that passage. Therefore, my beloved brother, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. I think my favorite. He probably not even thought about this passage, but here's our citizenship is in heaven. And from it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord, my beloved." It's not about speculation, but it's about moving to action, getting ready, being ready and moving to action, to hear the Word and Add this knowledge about the future events without your life being transformed is to miss the point altogether. We don't have the Bible just to increase our knowledge. We have to increase our knowledge of the Word of God. But that's not the stopping point. The extent to which our knowledge is measured or the measure of our knowledge is the extent to which we, by faith, obey what we know. Obedience or obedient action. for these disciples and for all who heard what Jesus taught and for us who are reading it. So, the first exhortation, watch yourselves, Luke says it both in 34, watch yourselves, it says stay awake in 36, be on guard and stay awake is the same idea that Mark has Be careful, pay attention. Luke uses this where he says, watch yourselves the leaven of the Pharisees. Watch yourselves the scribes. And one of my favorite places in Luke where he says it, he says, watch yourselves because if your brother sins against you seven times in a day and repents, forgive him seven times. But he prefaces that with watch yourself. Because you're not going to want to do that seven times in the same day. And the disciples say increase our faith. You can't do that. But he prefaces it. Watch yourself. Be on guard. Stay alert. You must be forgiving or the Lord will not be forgiving towards you. So he says here, watch yourself. It's a warning is timeless for every generation, never irrelevant. This isn't just some theoretical information, but it's personal and it's practical. for us to know how to live our days out on this world. And Luke does it with four areas. Dissipation, wasteful, wasting your resources, squandering what you've been given. It's what the prodigal son did. He got his inheritance from his daddy, went to a far country and he wasted all he had on riotous living. physical pleasure in ordinate indulgence in physical pleasures. He dissipated. In dissipation, he wasted all he had. And Luke says, don't get weighed down by that. Don't get weighed down by this loose living. Weighed down, don't get depressed, which seems to be one of the contributing elements, especially in the life of unbelievers. towards depression is this riotous living, this dissipation. And then he talks about drunkenness, you know, be careful about getting drunk, which is close. The dissipation and drunkenness are really tied together. In fact, at times used interchangeably, above it's more the things the drunks do. Whether or not they're drinking, you know, it's the... Well, you get the point. Here, this is really talking about the effects of intoxication. And so, I would say to you here, you're doing okay so far. You know, those are kind of the biggies, but then it comes to the cares of this life. Don't be weighed down by the cares of this life. It's going to catch us all. Most probably catch us all. I thought that goes back to the parable of the soils, the third soil, those who hear the word, but the cares of the world choke it out. And the word gets choked out and becomes unfruitful. And they fall away completely from the Lord, never having been a part of the kingdom. The disciples asked, what does this mean? You remember Jesus tells that story. Some of the word falls into the ditch. Well, some falls on the hard ground here and doesn't go in anywhere, and the birds come and take it away. He says that's those who hear the word of God, but Satan takes it away before they do anything about what they've heard. You know, some falls in the real shallow dirt, and it comes up immediately as soon as the sun comes out. It scorches that plant, and it falls away. Those people weren't saved. They made an emotional response. They didn't dig their roots deep to Christ, and they're gone. And then this one is the one that the seeds cast in the wayside. The plant comes up, but the thorns choke it out. He says, that is the cares of this life. and the deceitfulness of riches that is crept in. You care about. Are you weighed down by the cares of this life? You worry. We're about health. Your job, your children. The results of what's going on in the world. At home and abroad. finances, worried about whether you have enough cash to make it to the end, whether you're OK for the future. You're spending as much time as you can, packing as much pleasure as you can while you can. All of that is a picture of looking for security apart from Christ, apart from God. And here, what Jesus is doing with his disciples, it's nighttime, they're about to go. Before you go to bed, I want you to think about this. Don't go home and worry about the cares of the world and get all weighed down about these things I've just taught you. It's going to get hard for you. Your life is going to be tough. But don't worry about those things. Watch yourself, don't allow it to squeeze the life of you, convince you that you can find your security somewhere else. Don't do what Demas is going to do. Thirty years later, as Paul writes from his prison cell to Timothy at the end of his life, Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me. When Demas had been with Paul and was very helpful to Paul, but he loved this world and he deserted him somewhere or another the word got your choked out. And then. So we have dissipation we have drunkenness the cares of the world. He says finally stay awake by praying there at verse thirty six day awake at all times praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the son of man. Pray constantly that you're able to avoid the things that will take place. Just stand firm in the midst of temptation and distress so that you won't meet your utter ruin. Another place Jesus teaches, if you acknowledge me before men, I'll acknowledge you before my Father. If you deny me before my Father, Or if you deny me before me and I'll deny you before my father. God preserves his own to the end. There's no question and no doubt about that. But he doesn't do that in a vacuum. He preserves us. But we must persevere. He doesn't, by and large, intercede and make our decisions for us. In dramatic ways, he works his way. He works through his ways by his spirit to incline us to obedience and faith and to pay attention to the things he's given us as exhortations and commands. And there's no promise for anyone who abandons the faith or denies Christ. That's why the words are so strong and I think so impactful. The fact that the prospect of Jesus return should not cause us to become overly preoccupied with how with the process. In greater detail than what we have in Scripture. A lesson from John Wesley's diary. John Wesley records one afternoon he was asked by a man. If you knew Jesus was coming back tomorrow night, what would you do tomorrow day? I mean, think about that. If I could authoritatively stand and tell you Jesus will be back tomorrow night at 8 o'clock, what are you going to do tomorrow? What are you going to do the rest of the day today and what are you going to do tomorrow? Wesley walked to his horse. Remember, he rode on horseback. Walked to his horse, pulled his iPad out of his saddlebag. Well, it was 1700, so he didn't have an iPad, but you know what I mean. Pulled his calendar out, and he looked at his schedule for the next day. He said, if I knew Jesus was coming back tomorrow night, this is what I'd do. This is what I'd do. Look at your calendar. What would you do differently tomorrow if Jesus was going to come back tomorrow night? We should live our lives in the very same way Wesley did. If Jesus were to let us know it would happen tomorrow, our plans for tomorrow would be good to go. We would be prepared. I think in his 70-some resolutions, Edward said something about this, but I just wrote it down this way. Resolved, everything I do today will be in line with what I do if it were the last day for me, either by death or the second coming of Christ. said if what we've done for four weeks if all of our study on 13 becomes in our lives an area for controversy or an area for laziness. It doesn't make us more careful doesn't make it more watchful. It doesn't make us more prayerful. If it doesn't make us more vigilant and faithful. We'll go back to verse one. I know you don't want to do that. One last thought about the joy of choice. Going back to the story of the man who had two sisters, there's limits to choices. It didn't matter what clothes you wore today. It didn't matter to me. It may have mattered to you somewhat. How much? I don't know. Maybe if it mattered too much you were Something was wrong there, but it didn't matter what clothes. You know, you're pleased to have a choice, aren't you? In fact, sometimes too many choices are not helpful. You have four choices on your view here. Study it. pick one, work through it, change it if you need to. We're going to go home and we're going to, except for Bruce and Susan who are coming to our house, the rest of us are going to have a choice for lunch. They're going to get what's served. But you make a choice for lunch. You know, if you're married, you chose your spouse, or did you? You saw her, you got to know her, you saw him, you had no choice then, right? Here's one. This is a quote I saw this week. The Christian has freedom to choose which local church to join. But not whether to join a local church. But there's two things over which I have in mind that we don't have a choice. The commandments of God. There's no choice. They don't lay out for us options. There's no choice whether or not you ought to obey it. Which ones? You're not free to pick. God, you're not free to, it's not asking favors of us, it's not giving us good advice, our ethics are set before us, there's no alternatives, thou shalt, thou shalt not do this. But there's also a second one over which we have no choice, and that's there's no other name under heaven given among men where we must be saved. We are boxed in here without a choice, without an alternative. There's no two options here. Jesus stands alone as the one and only Savior. Trust him. Trust him and you know the joy of relinquishing your choice. Your passion for picking and choosing. It's funny, those who believe, those who come to know Christ, never claim, never object to not having two choices. We're just grateful to have one, aren't we? You don't complain that you didn't have a choice of saviors, do you? If you know Christ. There's no choice. We're grateful God has given us one. Because. Those who refuse that one. Save your clamor for others. Those who aren't saved very often. Well, why just one choice? Hey, look at me. There is a choice. God has given you a savior. But there's only one choice. Or the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They'll suffer punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at. And on that day, as Matthew said, all the tribes of the earth will mourn who have not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't delay. Be watchful. And trust in Jesus. We thank you, Father. And we pray that you would help us To be stewards, good stewards. Of the knowledge that you give us. To be faithful, watchful. Standing firm to the end. Were it up to us, we'd fall. So we praise your holy name and we thank you. That you've given to your people all that's required. And that you keep us from all harm. You're a great God. We have a wonderful savior who has redeemed us by his own blood. So we stand before you, we sit before you humble. And full of gratitude. May we express that gratitude. In a life of action. In Jesus name, Amen.