Okay, we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter 24. And the topic is, you know, you might look at this and you say, well, it's a very negative topic. We're going to begin at verse 15 of Matthew 24. And let's just read that verse for example. Now Christ had already he'd prophesied here in this chapter, number one of the first of the destruction of the temple and the events leading up to that destruction. And he gave them what was going to happen during that period, and then he extended it. Later on, he extended it to the whole time of the new covenant, the gospel covenant. and up to his second coming. And I put this in your lesson, he spoke of mass deception by false messiahs and false prophets preaching false gospels. And I'll tell you, that's probably more than any other thing. When we talk about the last days, Christ said there'd be wars and there'd be rumors of wars, be pestilence, illness, all of that. He said, like in the days of Noah. In other words, basically things aren't going to change. Now somebody says, well they may intensify, and they may, but it's going to go on like it always has been. People say, well our days are worse than the past. No, they're not. It's always been like this. Now we do have TV, you know, we can bring it into our living rooms today and all of that. We see more, we're aware of more, but this world has always been cursed with sin. And there's never been a time of righteousness on this earth as a whole. The only time of righteousness is what God has given His people in Christ by His grace. And that time that he spent on this earth and his suffering unto death, you remember what he said at his baptism, he said, this is to fulfill all righteousness. And we who know him, we stand before God righteous in Christ. But here's a couple things that we need to take in mind when you talk about the last days. You talk about all the false Christians, all the false gospels. Number one is that many professing Christians will be, as Christ said, offended. He mentioned that in the first part of Matthew 24. And they would apostatize from the faith, revealing that they'd never really been converted. John spoke of that in 1 John chapter two, he said, He said that there'll be many who will leave, they will forsake their profession of the true gospel now. And there he's not, apostasy is falling away from something. So let's say a person who grew up under a false gospel and continued in their life under a false gospel, they didn't fall away. They never were professing to believe the true gospel. You know, this day of freewillism and universal atonement and salvation conditioned on sinners, that's not even close to the true gospel. So a person who grows up in that and lives and dies in that, they didn't apostatize. They never were. Never were, according to the Bible, professing believers. That was all false gospel. But what John was talking about in 1 John 2 is that those who profess to believe what we know and believe is the truth, falling away from it. And they didn't lose their salvation, but they revealed that they never were saved to begin with. And you can read that in 1 John 2, 18 and 19, Hebrews 10. There's other passages that you can look at for that. So there'll be a time of great apostasy, and the Apostle Paul describes it in detail in 2 Thessalonians chapter two. And he tells the Thessalonians, he says, they were convinced that Christ was coming back in their day. And many of them did some bad things, unscriptural things in light of that. And he told him, he said, I've told you this before, that before Christ comes back, there'll be a great apostasy, a great falling away of the church. And what that is, it's when Satan and Antichrist, he mentions Antichrist, and he says there's many of them, not just one, and not occupying the White House or the Capitol building, but they will occupy the churches and bring it into a false gospel. And that's what we're gonna be talking about is the abomination of desolation. That's the current abomination of desolation. And I'll get to that. I'll deal with that more next week than this week, Lord willing. But many professing believers will fall away. And again, they reveal they never believed the truth. But the second thing that he mentions is that God's true children, the elect, the sheep, whom God chose before the foundation of the world and gave to Christ, put all of the responsibility of their salvation upon Him, all conditioned on Him, and those for whom He died and was buried and arose again. He says they will all, without fail, persevere unto the end. They will not fall away. And the reason is, is not because they're better, than anybody else, it's because God won't let them go. Christ said that in John 10. He said, they hear his voice and they'll follow him and no one shall pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. He says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh me I will in no wise cast out. And this is the will of him that sent me that of all whom he hath given me I will lose nothing. but raise it up again at the last day. So the reason that those who are truly saved persevere in the faith is because of the grace and the power and the goodness of God. It's not because of our goodness. It's because we're, well, think about it. We cannot be charged with our sins because they were charged to Christ. And so if we're not charged with sin, we can't be condemned. And the reason we can't be condemned is that Christ died. He was condemned in our place. And he drank damnation dry. He suffered unto death and he brought, all our sins are forgiven on the just ground of the blood of Christ. and we stand before God righteous. So that's what he's talking about. Now, one other thing, before we get into verse 15, is Christ also said, if you look at verse 14 of Matthew 24, he says, and this gospel of the kingdom, now not a false gospel, but this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. That is the end of the age. the second coming of Christ. Now, why is that? Well, that's related to the promise that God made to Abraham when he said, in thee shall all nations be blessed. And what that's simply telling us is that God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, and they're going to hear the gospel. They're going to be born again. They've been chosen. They've been justified before God based upon the imputed righteousness of Christ. And they're going to hear the gospel. They're going to be born again by the Spirit and brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works and idolatry. That's what 2 Peter 3 is about. You know, what is that verse, 2 Peter 3, 8 is it? Or 3, 9? It says that God is not slack concerning His promises, as some men count slackness, but He is, it's His will. that they all should come to repentance. He's not willing that any of them should perish. He's talking about the sheep there, talking about God's elect there, those for whom Christ died. They're not gonna perish, but he'll bring them to repentance, and he'll bring them to repentance through faith in Christ. But now look at verse 15. When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, Now that's the title of this lesson, The Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet. And Daniel spoke of this three times. I've got them listed there, Daniel 927, Daniel 1131, and Daniel 1211. And what he quotes of Daniel is from Daniel chapter 12 concerning this abomination of desolation. Spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place. Now the holy place here literally is the holy of holies in the temple. And of course you know all about that. You know how the tabernacle that was given, the plans given to Moses and they constructed it. You had the outer court with the brazen altar where the sacrifice was made. You had the holy place where the priest went in, only the priest of Levi went in and did the service of God. In there you had the table of showbread, the candlestick, the wash basin, all of that. And all of these things now were pictures of Christ. Now, on the whole, the nation didn't see that. Some did, a few, a remnant. But they were pictures of Christ and how God saved sinners. And then you had the veil, and behind that veil was the holiest of all, where it had the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat. Remember how the high priest would go in one time a year on the Day of Atonement and sprinkle the blood from off the brazen altar? And what is Christ to his people? He's our mercy seed. The seed of all mercy. And it's all by his blood, his death. And so all that. All right, he says here, when you see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. And the word abomination refers to profanity, corruption, and idolatry. That's what an abomination is. Desolation describes the ruination and the destruction and the obliteration that comes as the result of abomination. That's what that is. And this abomination and this ruination and all of this The abomination of the unbelieving Jews, for example, had left the temple and the whole city of Jerusalem desolate. And so many times the apostle describes that. You remember in Galatians chapter four, he speaks of Jerusalem below and Jerusalem above. The nation Israel, God gave them that covenant that was centered, that old covenant, that was centered around the Ten Commandments to show them their sinfulness, and he gave them that ceremonial law in the covenant, the tabernacle, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the altar. And it was all to show them the impossibility of salvation based upon their works. By deeds of law shall no flesh be justified. And it was given as a picture of Christ the blood of the Lamb, the spotless Lamb of God, dying for the sins of His people. Remember how the priest would lay his hand on the sacrifice, that spotless Lamb. That was a picture of sin imputed to Christ, and then His death and His righteousness imputed to us. So, all of this had come to a point in their history where it literally meant nothing. It was a desolate place. And so the abomination and this destruction of the Jews had left Jerusalem and the temple desolate. And you know what kind of shape it was in. I talked about this last week, how this is the third temple, which was an addition to the second temple. But there was no Ark of the Covenant, no mercy seat there. I think some scholars say that there's just a big rock in there. And I don't know. But you know what happened when Christ died, the veil was rent in two. The old covenant actually ended when Christ gave up the ghost, breathed his last breath as a sinless human being. And when he died, he said, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And when he gave his last breath, the veil was torn in two from top to bottom. And what did those so-called priests do in that day? They sewed it back together and tried to maintain that worship. Well, that's an abomination and it's significant. It's the abomination that left that temple, left that city, left that desert. Now, here's the thing. It was all impressive to men But what do we read in Luke 16, 15? That which men esteem highly is an abomination to God. And so that event in history in AD 70 is when that temple was destroyed. And I'll show you something about that in a minute. Christ spoke here of the destruction of the temple, destruction of the city of Jerusalem by the Romans that would take place in AD 70, long after the old covenant had been abolished by way of fulfillment, or at least 40 years after that. And so that gave providential and historical proof of three things, and I've got these listed in your lesson. Number one, It spoke visibly that no sinner could be saved by their works and their efforts in religious dedication and exercise. Can't be done. Again, deeds of law, no flesh justified. Secondly, it spoke that the old covenant was finished by the fulfillment of all things in the person and work of Christ in the new covenant age. And that had begun with the gospel. Old covenant's gone, abolished. And now the new covenant, and remember what the new covenant is. It's the establishment in time of the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. So the new covenant is new in time, but it's the process and all the elements of an everlasting covenant of grace, God between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit before time. So we're realizing it now, we're in the new covenant age. And then thirdly, let me see if I can find it, yeah, thirdly, it shows that God is faithful both to his promises and to his threats. God is faithful. He doesn't change his mind. God saves sinners based upon the righteousness of Christ alone, the blood of Christ alone. And he condemns sinners based on anything else. So without Christ, where are we? Those who live and die without Christ, without being washed in his blood, without having his righteousness imputed, without having been born again and brought to faith in Christ, they're condemned. But what does the Bible tell us about God's people? There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. So he told his disciples, Don't be too impressed. You know, the whole thing started. You remember what he said? Look at verse one of Matthew 24. And Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. It's almost like they were saying, look at these, you know, look at all this beauty. And what he's telling us, don't be too impressed by this. This is an abomination. It's desolate. It's idolatry. And these things, first of all, these things were always meant to be temporary. That old covenant which was instituted with the nation Israel by Moses on Mount Sinai 1,500 years before this, it was always meant to be temporary. It was never meant to carry on and on and on as if it were eternal. And again, Daniel spoke of that in Daniel 9 and verse 24 through 27, how he would make an end of sin and finish the transgression, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up the vision, the prophecy, and enter into the holiest. That's the Messiah. And then secondly, there was no eternal salvation in these things. Salvation is the product of another covenant, A unilateral covenant that's conditioned only upon God through his son, Jesus Christ. Well, look at the next verses. Matthew 24 and verse 16. And I'll read down to verse 21. He says, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day, for then shall be great tribulation, great trouble, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor, no, nor ever shall be. Now what's he telling me? And look, turn over to Luke chapter 21. This is Luke's version of the Olivet Discourse. And it says the same thing that Matthew said, but he gives us a little more detail about this abomination of desolation in time. The destruction of the physical temple and the destruction of Jerusalem. And Luke says it this way, Luke 21 verse 20. It says, and when you shall see Jerusalem compassed or surrounded with armies, what armies were they surrounded? The Romans. Then know that the desolation thereof is nigh, destruction's coming. And verse 21, then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein too. Now, what is all this saying? He said, when this comes, get out without even packing. Don't even pack your bags. Get out and hide. And those who are away, who were coming to Jerusalem, stay out. That's what he's saying, because it's going to be destroyed. And this is a historical, providential testimony that that old covenant is over. If you don't think it is, look what's going to happen. And what happened in this is the Roman legions came in and they destroyed the temple completely. They destroyed Jerusalem completely. And so what does all this show? Again, it marks the end of the old covenant, obviously, which it ended back at the death of Christ. It shows that salvation has always been and will always be by the free, sovereign grace of God through Christ. Nothing else. And it says, I put in your lesson here, all these signs are given not to cause us to speculate about when Christ is coming. We know he is coming. We're to live our lives in expectation that he could come any day, any hour. But we're not to speculate on when that is or try to find the date or anything like that through some kind of a twisted Hebrew math or anything like that. but it gives the assurance that he is coming so that we'll cling to him. Now this is the point. You cling to Christ. Don't let go. Keep your eyes and your mind and your heart upon Christ. One of the things I'm gonna say in the message this morning in Sue's memory is look, the death of a believer reminds believers of how serious and how valuable the gospel is. Think about that. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Make sure, the Bible says examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith, lest you be reprobate. You're sitting here today, and what you ought to be concerned with is am I preaching the true gospel without change, without any addition or any subtraction? but I'm preaching the true gospel, because I can tell you right now, there are men whom I know who did preach the true gospel at one time, but they've added things. They're saying them differently, and in a way that denies the true gospel, and you've gotta perk up your ears. Be careful. Take heed what you hear, and take heed how you hear. Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Don't just take my word for it, or anybody's word, but understand that. There's no greater sin than to reject God's promise of salvation based upon the righteousness of Christ, and continue to seek salvation based on works. There's no greater sin. That's an abomination. An abomination of desolation, that'll leave you desolate. And so look at verse 22. He says, and except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Now what he's saying there, there's an appointed time for all this to happen. It's not gonna go on forever. Because God has a chosen people he intends to save. And when that last one is brought into the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, then it'll be over. And that shortening of the days, you know, it's kind of like this. Christ is telling them that if it were not for God's elect, not one individual would be saved. Not one individual Jew. Now that's not saying that every Jew who was destroyed in this physical destruction was not a believer, maybe there were some believers there who were killed. And it doesn't mean that there's no elect among them. But, on the whole, what did Isaiah say back in Isaiah 1, 9? Except the Lord of hosts had left them all remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been as Gomorrah. Nobody saved. But God has a people. And he's not willing that any of them should perish. but that all should come to repentance. And thank God for his grace to save us from that abomination, which is desolate. And let me just say this in closing. If you want to know what the abomination of desolation is today, it's men and women standing in pulpits of America and the world today preaching a false gospel. That's an abomination that'll leave their hearers desolate. And I'll talk more about that next week. All right.