Our Old Covenant reading this morning comes from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 62, we'll be reading the entirety of the chapter, verse 1 to 12. Isaiah 62, this is the word of our Lord. For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent. And for Jerusalem's sake, I will not be quiet. Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a burning torch, the nation shall see your righteousness and all the kings your glory. And you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed desolate, but you shall be called, my delight is in her, and your land married. For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen all the day and all the night. They shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm, I will not again give your grain to be food to your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink of your wine for which you have labored. But those who garner it shall eat it, and praise the Lord, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary. Go through, go through the gates. Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway. Clear it of stones. Lift up a signal over the peoples. Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the earth, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. And they shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. And you shall be called sought out, a city not forsaken." Our New Covenant reading this morning comes from the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 24, we'll be reading verses 1 to 14. This is the Word of our God. Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, you see all these, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone standing upon another that will not be thrown down. As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered them, See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ. And they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars, and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come. The grass withers and the flowers, the field, they fade and they fall. But this, the word of our God, it endures forever. Let's pray together. Our gracious Lord, we come this day to Your Word, to hear from You, to be reminded of all the glorious things You have for Your people. We come, Lord, to learn and to be challenged in what we think. We come, Lord, knowing that in order to understand what You have spoken, we need Your Spirit to illumine in us the truth of Christ. And so, Lord, we do ask that You would send forth Your Spirit with power to touch our hearts and our minds, the entirety of our being, that we would indeed think Your thoughts after You, and that we would indeed walk in Your ways to Your glory and Your praise. Amen. Before us this morning, we begin the final of five major discourses in the Gospel of Matthew. This extended teaching is often called the Olivet Discourse, as it takes place on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem. It's also referred by some as the End Times or the Eschatological Discourse, because much of it is concerned with what lies ahead. Now this fairly lengthy section of teaching begins here in chapter 24 and it extends on through the end of chapter 26. Now this discourse contextually comes right after Jesus denounced the religious leaders and pronounced the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem. And this discourse comes immediately before the plans are finally laid to put Jesus to death. And it's very important that we pay careful attention to these particular verses this morning. Verses 1-14. Because they're going to help us as we look through this discourse. Because these verses lay a foundation for what comes in the rest of this teaching. This morning we'll look at this passage in three sections. First, beware of perceptions and their misguided questions. Second, do not be misled by the troubles of this world. And third, do not be surprised by the troubles that you face. First, beware of perceptions and their misguided questions. Second, do not be misled by the troubles of the world. And third, do not be surprised by the troubles that you face. The setting is really important here for what is going to take place in the rest of chapter 24 and then into chapter 25. Jesus had just left the temple. He had denounced the religious leaders at the temple. He had pronounced judgment upon the temple and now he departs the temple. I do think there's an important theological point that's being made here as Jesus leaves the temple. Although it's subtle, I think it's nonetheless present. God's presence and glory has left the temple as Jesus has left. And if any will find it, if any will find how to be near to God, it will only come as they find the presence of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the true temple. The former temple would be destroyed and it would never be rebuilt. The temple of his body would be destroyed, but rebuilt by resurrection in three days. That, we find, as the New Testament proceeds, was itself an eschatological movement from shadow to the substance of redemption. And that undergirds much of what Jesus is going to say. during this theologically significant moment, this departure from the temple, we get a close view into the happenings within the inner circle of Jesus' disciples. They're going along their way, and as they're going along their way, coming out of Jerusalem, down that mountain, into the valley, and up the other mountain on the other side, Jesus' disciples begin to point out the buildings of the temple. Now, on its face, that discussion, that conversation may seem like inconsequential small talk as they walked. But given the preceding context, I think there's more going on here in that discussion. Now Jesus had just declared in the previous chapter that the temple would be left desolate when he said in 23, 38, see your house is left to you, desolate. And to the disciples, there seems to be a problem of perception. Was Jesus, when he said those things, actually referring to the temple itself? For these buildings are massive and they're beautiful. Look, Jesus. Look at this temple. The temple complex there in Jerusalem was considered one of the most beautiful structures in the ancient world. Marble and gold, massive blocks of stone, towering pillars. Could it really be that this glorious place will become desolate? Perhaps the disciples find Jesus' prediction to be quite incredible, given what they see with their eyes. So that in verse 2, Jesus answers their perceptions with a word of confirmation. He says, You see all these, don't you? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. But the temple that stands tall and stands beautiful will be reduced to rubble, just as He declared publicly. So He confirms it privately with His disciples. But once they reach their destination, Once they're sitting upon the Mount of Olives across the valley from Jerusalem, within sight of the temple, this prediction of such a massive event coming in the future elicits questions from the disciples. They have questions. Now, having spent a significant amount of time in the Gospel of Matthew and having heard the many questions that have been posed to Jesus by His disciples, we should at least be a little cautious, if not skeptical, of the disciples' level of understanding when they ask questions. Are there any questions that they ask that they actually have a good understanding of what's going on when they ask the question? Relatively few, if any. Now look at their question in verse 3. Tell us when these things will be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. Now there's a couple of things going on in this question. Really, there's two questions and one conflation, we might say. The first question is, when? Jesus spoke about every stone of the temple being thrown down. And so they ask a fairly straightforward question. Well, when is this going to happen? The second question is in regard to the signs. What will take place so that we know that it's the end? Yet the conflation we see is in that they assumed that the when of these things, the destruction of the temple, would go together with the signs of the end of the age. In other words, as David Turner points out, in the disciples' thinking, the end of the temple would augur the end of the present world. Here in verse 3 is the first time Matthew uses the word parousia, which is a reference to Jesus' coming, which the disciples heard back in verse 39 of chapter 23. When Jesus spoke lament over Jerusalem and declared, For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Now that coming of Jesus in the minds of the disciples we find in their question was tied to the end of the age, tied to the coming of Christ, tied to the consummation of all things. Now we talk that way too, right? making of all things new, uniting heaven and earth, the fulfillment of the kingdom. That's an age-old expectation, right? The consummation is. Which the disciples, in their question, place chronological with the destruction of the temple that Jesus predicted. Now, Jesus is going to address both of those things. He's going to address the destruction of the temple, and He's going to address the consummation of all things. He'll do that in this discourse. He's going to address the events leading up to the destruction of the temple. He's going to talk about the consummation of the age. Yet He is going to distinguish those things and guide His disciples away from confusing those things. As Jesus begins in verse four to answer the disciples' questions, he does so in a way that centers upon his own concerns. That's the way Jesus answers questions. People come to him with all kinds of questions, all kinds of presuppositions, and when Jesus answers it, he answers it according to how he wants it answered, not necessarily according to their preconceived notions of how it should be answered. So he doesn't answer it the way the disciples might expect. Now it will be helpful as we begin our look at Jesus' words here to set out three introductory remarks for us to keep in mind. First is the setting, and I already mentioned this. Jesus and his disciples are on the Mount of Olives. with a westward view of Jerusalem and specifically the temple. That setting plays a key role in helping us understand what Jesus is saying. The words of the Olivet Discourse are tied to that place and they are tied to that moment and to forget that fact can and perhaps will lead us into all kinds of misunderstandings. It can lead us into all kinds of problematic speculations. which should bring into our minds, secondly, the history of the interpretation of this discourse. Now, in the past two millennia of church history, more ink has been spilled on this discourse than any other section of the Gospels. Just think about that for a second. And that should tell us something of the difficulty in understanding these words. I think that that should cause us to approach this section of Matthew's Gospel with humility and with patience. And so thirdly, we ought to give our attention to what is clear and what Jesus does indeed say. Rather than in constructing an end times system upon things that are either unsaid or things that are not immediately clear. Now, there's an important hermeneutical point made in the first chapter of the Westminster Confession that should guide us here. Paragraph 9 says that the infallible rule of the interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself. And therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture, it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly. Which means that when we are faced with difficulty in understanding the Scriptures, we are to use Scripture to interpret Scripture. Using a more clear passage to shed light on one that is less clear. However, it seems that at times interpreters have done the very opposite. Using what is less clear to obscure what is decidedly clear. Biblical eschatology is not intended to trick us, but to help us, to encourage us, and to preserve us. If we consider these introductory remarks, I think we will be led in a direction that sees Jesus is teaching in order to help his disciples. Not to confuse them. not to distract them, but to help them face what lies ahead. Now oftentimes, Christians, like Jesus' disciples, come to Jesus, come to the Scriptures with questions about what will be. And like the disciples here, we come with assumptions of how things will and should work out. But also, like the disciples here, Jesus answers on His terms, not necessarily according to our perceptions or our specific questions. Jesus doesn't tell us everything there is to say about the topic. He tells us what is necessary, and there we must be content to listen and to trust Him. The disciples come with two questions. In the broad scope of this discourse, Jesus is going to answer in two parts, but those two parts don't correspond to the when and the what that the disciples ask about. Rather, as one commentator remarks, Jesus is concerned not so much with the when and the what of these events as he is with the so what. And it's that so what emphasis that is often so missing in the interpretation of Jesus' words here. Yet as we jump into the discourse in verse 4, it is the imperative of how His disciples shall live that remains the dominant feature of this passage. In verses 4 to 8, Jesus tells His disciples not to be misled by the troubles of the world. And in verse 5, this warning is directed specifically against false Christs. That is those who would either explicitly or implicitly claim to be a Savior, who are offering forth false teachings, false promises, false gospels that would lead God's people away from the true Savior of God. That was a true and immediate danger after the ascension of Jesus there in the first century. But this warning didn't lose its relevancy in 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed. The church throughout the ages is no stranger to those who claim the name of Christ yet lead God's people astray. It was a perennial problem that the disciples addressed in their letters, right? That's a theme that comes up in the epistles over and over and over again, right? Peter's warnings against false teachers. John's warnings against antichrists. Paul's warning that should anyone preach a gospel other than the gospel that he has preached, let him be anathema. Let him be accursed. The early church saw heretics like Marcion. They saw heretics like Manny, who called himself a Messiah, who founded Manichaeism. But of course, it didn't end there, did it? For through the centuries, many have arisen and many have led God's people astray from the truth of Christ. And for the disciples of Jesus, the first thing that they can expect and must guard against is those who would lead them astray. And they can be led astray with all kinds of things, right? Perhaps with promises of social influence and cultural transformation. Maybe with promises of greater wealth, of more happiness and less trouble. And not only will these false cries come, but they will indeed lead many astray. There will be those who listen to their song. So there will be some who were once of us, but they went out from us. And that's a painful reality that each of us could tell stories about, right? Yet the trouble doesn't stop there for Jesus' disciples. In verse 6, Jesus tells the disciples that they're facing another type of trouble. They're going to hear of political upheaval. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. And then in verse 7, nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Yet the troubles don't even stop there. Even nature itself will unleash its fury. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. Antichrists, wars, rumors of wars, nation rising up against nation, famines and earthquakes. These images have been used, particularly in the evangelical imagination, to assume that these things mean that the end is here. Yet notice what Jesus actually says. He actually says that these things are not signs of the end of the age in verse 6. There's two points Jesus makes here about these events that we must not miss. The first is that they're necessary. Remember, Jesus is saying these things to help his disciples, not to confuse them. So he says in verse 6, see that you are not alarmed, for this must take place. See, amid the temptation to fear or to be alarmed, Jesus calms the fears with focus centered upon God's plan. Because Jesus says, it is necessary. This must take place. And that simple phrase, that phrase is literally a three-letter word in Greek. And it functions here as an encouragement to the disciples in the midst of troubling times. As a reminder that come what may, history remains always in God's hands. The world at no point is spinning out of control, even though you may think that it is. God is at work and everything is going according to plan. Second, these things are not signs that the end is here. Twice, in fact, in verse 6 and then in verse 8, Jesus emphasizes that these things that will take place are not signs of the end. They are not historical markers by which we can predict the coming of Christ. Yet, what is so common in modern interpretations of this passage is the very opposite of what Jesus says. See, the point Jesus is making here is not the unusual nature of these events that can be seen as outliers and predictions, but rather these things ought not to distress God's people. Because these things are part of God's plan. And far from being extraordinary, these troubles, these tribulations are part of the normal course of a broken and sin-cursed world. See, if we try to see these things as signs of the end, it would be no wonder that we think we must be the final generation. Yet surely in the scope of world history, false messiahs have led astray time and time and time again. Wars have been rumored and wars have been waged. Famines have left people starved and nature's fury has left devastation in its wake. There's nothing abnormal about those things. except that they are the normal part of an abnormal world. Rather than calling us to walk around with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other, what we find here in the beginning of the Olivet Discourse is the expectation of what Jesus calls birth pains. That as Jesus promised His disciples in John 16, 33, in the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world. And so brothers and sisters, when you see these things, the end is not yet. All these things are but the beginning of the birth pains. As Paul says in Romans 8, creation is groaning in the pains of childbirth. And for Jesus' disciples sitting there on the Mount of Olives, these words are not intended to help them interpret the times, but to give them the courage and to give them the confidence to hold fast to Christ amid the troubles they would see in a broken world. And that's the same message for us today. When troubles and tribulation arise, these things are necessary and they are according to God's plan. There is no need to panic. There is no reason to doubt. Jesus told us it would be this way. These are but the birth pains of new creation. These are the last days, as Peter says. Not in terms of the immediate second coming of Christ, but the last days that anticipate the coming of the Lord whenever He so wills. The church has been living in the last days since the resurrection of Christ. And they will be living in the last days so long as it is called today. until He comes again in glory. Until then, brothers and sisters, don't be alarmed. Don't be led astray. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Jesus goes on then in verses 9 to 14 to speak about the tribulations that will come upon His disciples personally. which come precisely because they are those who have Jesus' name upon them. Those who are called by Jesus' name are not exempted from troubles between the times, but in fact face troubles for the very reason that they proclaim and represent Christ among the nations. As Jesus will soon leave his disciples, here's what they can expect. Beyond just a troubled world out there, they themselves can expect personal trials. They themselves can expect perhaps even death. They can expect to be hated by the very people to whom they've been sent to bring good news. They can expect their friends and closest kin to fall away from the faith and to sin. They can expect betrayal and to be hated. They can expect false teachers to lead God's people away from the truth. They can expect to see the ebb and flow of widespread sinfulness that will sear consciences and lure and lull God's people into the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life. You see, dear saints, With the disciples here, we are not exempted from the fires of life. As Peter says in chapter 4 of his first epistle, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. Jesus told them what they would face, and He tells us too. But that's not all he says, is it? Look at verses 13 and 14. The troubles never have the last say, Jesus tells us. Consider the way Calvin speaks about these verses. Whatever may be the contrivances of Satan, and how numerous soever may be the multitudes which he carries away, yet the gospel will maintain its ground till it be spread through the whole world. This might indeed appear to be incredible, but it was the duty of the Apostles, relying on this testimony of their Master, to cherish hope against hope, and in the meantime to strive vigorously to discharge their office. What Jesus says in these few verses is a hope-filled way of saying that the church will continue on amid many tribulations to be a church on mission. Characterized by the steady and steadfast preaching of the good news of the kingdom of God in Christ, proclaiming His victory over the grave, proclaiming salvation to the ends of the earth, Often times verse 14 is read as if it were a condition for the coming end. As though the spread of the gospel were a means to hasten the coming of Christ. But that's not what Jesus is saying. The gospel to the ends of the earth is not a sign of the end. But is the commission of the church in every age unto the point when in fact Christ comes in glory? He will find His church at work in the mission of His great commission. As Jeffrey Gibbs helpfully summarizes, both then and now, the message is the same. Do not be deceived. Realize that the troubles are only signs of the normal brokenness of humanity and of the world. Yet in the midst of those troubles, we have a glorious, hopeful message to proclaim. Now how does the church meet the needs of this generation? That's a question that the churches are asking all the time. That's a question that has been asked over and over again. And the answer is always rightly answered in the same way in every age. It comes down to what Jesus says here. It's the church living in accord with its mission as Jesus makes clear there in verse 14. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. You see, it's not the church's mission to hasten the end. It's not the church's mission to fight the prevailing institutions and cultural icons. It's not the church's mission to chart, re-chart and calculate the days until Christ comes. It is the church's singular mission to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom throughout the whole world. To all nations. And to do so until Christ comes again. To preach the gospel in season and out of season. When you're free to do so and when the tyranny of government seeks to silence you. When you may be hated for it. When you may be persecuted for it. When even in fact you may be put to death for it. Told fast and to preach the gospel when the gospel has gone out of vogue. When your friends have betrayed you. When false prophets try to malign you and to lead others astray. When sin will tempt Christians to abandon Christ and to follow their own desires, Jesus encourages you with these words to stand firm, to persevere amid the hostility and the heartache, for there's a great promise. The one who endures to the end will be saved. So much of the concerns surrounding eschatology are often centered around times and signs. But as this passage lays the foundation for Jesus' continued discussion of what's to come, I think it provides us with a much more helpful and more productive way forward that concerns itself with persevering in Christ, anticipating the coming of Christ with patience, and giving an intense focus upon the unchanging mission of the Church and the spread of the Gospel. As Jesus looks out at His disciples, hears their questions about the whens and the whats, We ourselves are reminded of how easy it is to let the troubles of this world and the trials of our lives speak louder than the promises of Christ in the gospel. It's easy to become so fixated upon the trouble of this world that we attempt to contrive alternative methods for the church to use in order to address those troubles other than the message of the gospel. But we've been given that deposit of truth. We've been given a message to proclaim and that is what the world needs. Dear saints, here is what we with the disciples and all those who follow them can expect in terms of this broken world. Troubles. But we mustn't lose heart. We must not stray from the mission. For as Paul tells us, this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. See, we need not walk through this life with a Bible in our right hand and a newspaper in our left, trying to discern the times. We need not be alarmed. For God in Christ is working all things for us and for our salvation. Of that it is sure. What we see taking place in God's wisdom is necessary. We know what time it is. It is just the beginning of the end. Don't be led astray. Don't be alarmed. For the one who endures to the end will be saved, and of course, that salvation is well worth the wait. Let's pray together. Our Lord, we thank You for Your wisdom and Your mercy in revealing to us Your Word. We thank You, Lord, that You work through that Word to conform us further into the image of Christ, And we ask, Lord, indeed, that we would be blessed as we receive Your Word with faith. And we ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.