All right, please open your Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew. Matthew 24. Matthew 24 verse 5. Matthew 24 verse 5. Last week we started Matthew 24 and we saw how it ties in with the message the Lord gave in Matthew 23. We saw how the words in Matthew 24 verse 2, which say, not one stone left upon another, relate to the same words found in Luke 19 verse 44, and that these words refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. We also saw that the words of Matthew 24 verse 3 are stated in there are stated three questions. First of all, when shall these things be? Secondly, what shall be the sign of thy coming? And finally, what shall be the sign of the end of the world? And then we saw that the words of Matthew 24 verses 4 through 8 indicate that these words do not yet refer to end time events, although most of this chapter does refer to end time events. When the Lord admonished his disciples to take heed that no man deceive you, and when he warned them, many shall come in my name, to deceive them with another gospel. And when they will hear of wars and rumors of wars, we need to keep in mind that these things go on all the time throughout the New Testament time period. All these troubles are only the beginning of sorrows. So let's turn to Matthew 24 verse five. And so we'd take a look at the beginning of sorrows. Matthew 24 verse 5, For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you. And ye shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure until the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. We must ask ourselves if this passage is strictly answering the first question of the disciples, when shall these things be? When shall these buildings of the temple be destroyed so much that there shall not be left here one stone upon another? And when we look at these verses, we can see that they do not refer to the 27 years between Pentecost and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places are not pointing to these 27 years, but to the entire New Testament period of time. The words, he shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake, are not pointing to these 27 years, but to the entire New Testament period of time. The words, many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many, are not pointing to these 27 years, but to the entire New Testament period of time. And so we see that the Lord Jesus is answering the disciples question in a roundabout way. Why did they do that? We can see that the Lord is moving in the direction of end time events. The disciples thought that the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple would be related to the end of the world. But why is the Lord Jesus also moving in this direction? He knew that the year 70 AD is not the end of the world. We will answer this question later in this sermon. But first we want to understand the warnings of the Lord beginning in verse nine. Paraphrased, he seems to say, all these are the beginning of sorrows. But then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and so on. When your sorrows are increasing, when we approach the end of time, many shall be deceived, and the love of many shall wax cold. So let's look at this verse more carefully. Matthew 24, verse 9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. This refers to religious persecution. We know that religious persecution of the saints has been going on throughout the entire New Testament time period. The Lord Jesus warned us for this in Matthew 10, when he sent out the 12 disciples for a practice run of evangelizing the world. Please turn to chapter 10 of this Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 10, verse 17. Matthew 10, verse 17. And we'll see how closely these words in Matthew 24, 9, and 10 resemble the words we find in Matthew 10, verses 17 to 22. The Lord gave his disciples many pieces of advice. Then he added in Matthew 10, starting at verse 17, but beware of men. for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death. And the father, the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end shall be saved. And when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. For verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man become." The Lord gave his disciples advance warning of the persecution they would have to endure. But notice how the Lord also warned us that religious persecution shall increase over time. Verse 21 is pointing in that direction. The brother shall deliver up the brother to death and the father the child and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. We know that these dreadful acts existed during the Reformation. But they shall also exist as we approach the end of time. And notice what the Lord is saying in verse 23. Literally he said, for verily I say unto you, in no way will you have finished the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. In other words, in our evangelism throughout the entire New Testament time period, we shall not have completed evangelizing in all the cities of Israel. Now the only way we can understand this is if the name Israel does not refer to the physical nation of Israel. but to the Israel of God, the Israel that represents all the elect who were and are in Christ from before the foundation of the world. All the elect also need to hear the gospel so that they can become saved. For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The number of cities of the nation of Israel is only a tiny fraction of all the cities that evangelists have already covered in the past 19 centuries. And so, here we have another proof text that God's focus is not so much on the tiny nation of Israel, but it was God's focus all along to bring this gospel of salvation into all the world. And throughout the Gospel of Matthew, we have seen that this was God's plan already from the beginning. But look now at the wording of verses 17 and 22. These two verses have been summarized in Matthew 24 9 with the words, then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Why shall they hate us? they shall hate us because the true gospel is an offense to the natural man. The true gospel of grace alone will not be believed unless God the Holy Spirit draws us to believe the true gospel of the Bible. Therefore most men will be drawn to a false gospel of works and they will be repelled by the gospel of grace alone. And therefore they will persecute us as much as this civilized society allows them to do. For we are an offense and a hindrance to their own evangelism efforts. In the religious framework that they have concocted, we are an offense to their gods. And so they would like to stamp us out if that were possible. Please return now to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 24 verse five. Matthew 24 verse 5. And so we understand that the words of Matthew 24 verse 9 refer to religious persecution that occurs throughout the New Testament time period. Now I would like to focus on the one single word, many. Look again at Matthew 24 verse 5. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. There shall be many false prophets and false teachers who shall claim that they're coming in the name of Christ and that they are bringing a message in the name of Christ. But their total number shall be minuscule compared to the number of them that be deceived by them. And thus we will not focus on the first many in this verse but on the second word many. And in these verses we can already see that the Lord is moving us in the direction of end time events. I'm not speaking here about many thousands who shall apostatize from the Christian religion and shall join the Mormons or the Jehovah's Witnesses. I'm not even speaking of the millions who shall begin to worship man-made gods of freewill gospels. But I am speaking about billions who shall worship gods that are put before them by their priests and by their pastors, gods that are not like the God of the Bible. In fact, the pure preaching of the Word of God shall be hard to find. Like we read in Amos 8 verses 11 and 12. Let me read these verses to you. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it. Who are these many? who cannot find the hearing of the words of the Lord. They are the many who are on the broad way, the easy way that leads to hell, and who are stuck in their pride of having their own free will, and in their own self-esteem, and in their own self-worth, and they hate to give all this up. Who are these many? The Lord speaks about them again in verse 10, where we read in Matthew 24, verse 10, And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. They shall be offended by the true gospel. They do not want anything of it, but instead they shall believe the false gospel that their preacher shall preach to them. But will this give them peace? No. They will continue to have hatred in their hearts for the love of God has not been shed in their hearts by God the Holy Spirit. They're on their own. Again, the Lord addresses these many in Matthew 24 verse 11. And many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. Why did I say that these many represent billions of people on this earth? I say this because there are several places in the Bible where it tells us the majority of the world will be slaves of Satan, even the majority of the churches in the world. Let me read to you from Revelation 13 verse 3, which speaks about Antichrist as the beast and the great following of Antichrist. We read in Revelation 13 verse 3, And I saw one of his heads, as it were, wounded to death. And his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast." Let me repeat this, all the world wondered after the beast. That is almost all, almost all the world, for only the elect will not wonder after the beast. For in Revelation 13 verse 8, if you drop down a little farther, we read that all whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, those whose names are written shall not wonder after the beast. And so the majority of mankind shall worship gods of their own making. Gods that cannot save, for they are gods that are impotent. Let me repeat this again, free will religions worship gods of their own making. They are gods that cannot save and so the churches that cling to these free will religions are filling their churches with baptized pagans. And they are preparing their churches for worse apostasies. And then the Lord continues to speak of these many in the next verse, Matthew 24 verse 12. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. In the many, iniquity shall abound, for they are still unsaved. And so the love of many shall wax cold, which refers to their love for God and their love for one another, for they're still unsaved. But God's elect shall remain faithful to the Bible. For they are kept by the power of God in order that the purpose of God according to election might stand. The Lord promised this when he said in John 10 verse 28, John 10, 28, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. You see those whom God chose from before the foundation of the world to be saved cannot lose their salvation. Once they have been saved, they cannot fall again into apostasy. For if that were so, then Christ died in vain. And that is an impossibility. Please turn in your Bibles to the prophecy of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 20. Deuteronomy 18, verse 20. In this passage, God warns us again against false prophets whom He has not sent. False prophets who shall claim something new, something exciting, something they claim out of the Bible. Oh yes, they claim that their new findings are absolutely true to the Word of God. We read about them in Deuteronomy 18, verses 20 to 22. But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, That is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken. But the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously. Thou shalt not be afraid of him. Let me repeat those last seven words. Thou shalt not be afraid of him. How shall we know if a prophet is one who was sent by God or who was not sent by God? If the thing that he spoke did not come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken. For example, when we heard in the past someone prophesying that the world would come to an end in the year 1994, which did not come to pass, for we still exist today, 25 years later, this passage tells us that this prophet was a false prophet. And God's advice to us is, thou shalt not be afraid of him. Please return now to the Gospel of Matthew. Go back to Matthew 24, verse three. Matthew 24 verse 3. Presently we want to investigate if the historical destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC has any future prophetic implications. We can be assured that the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD has no future implications for its destruction is not even recorded in the Bible. Let's look at the destruction of Jerusalem. Matthew 24 verse 3. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? Now, why did the disciples immediately associate the destruction of Jerusalem with the end of the world? Where did they get this idea? Certainly it was taught them by the scribes and Pharisees, but where did they get this? And why did the Lord Jesus go along with that idea? The words of the Lord unmistakably go in that direction as we can read here in Matthew 24 verses 11 through 14. Let's read that again. Matthew 24 verse 11. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure until the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end come. These words are definitely referring to end time events. Please turn in your Bibles to the prophecy of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 32. Jeremiah 7 verse 32. God speaks here through the mouth of Jeremiah about the coming destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. But then God connected this destruction also to end time events. We read in Jeremiah chapter 7 starting at verse 32. Therefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter. For they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place, no more room. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth, and none shall pray them away. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of the mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall be desolate. These words are definitely referring to this destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Moreover, the words, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride have been repeated two other times in the prophecy of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 16, verse nine, and in Jeremiah 25, verse 10, where these words are also spoken in the context of the destruction of Jerusalem. And so God has solidly bound these words with the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Please turn now to the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Revelation 18, verse 4. Revelation 18, verse 4. When we read Revelation 17 and Revelation 18, we find that these two chapters deal symbolically with the city of Satan, which is called Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And then we discover that the church has gone so apostate near the end of time that God calls the church Babylon. Anyone who doubts that this refers to the church should read Revelation 18 verse 4. For therein we read, and I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. This clearly indicates that some of the saints are still in that apostate church. And so when a church has become apostate, God calls to the saints to come out of that church. But the condition is that the church must have gone apostate. Please drop down to verse 23. We read in Revelation 18, verse 23, and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee, for thy merchants were the great men of the earth, for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived." Here we read that the light of a candle and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride shall be removed from Babylon the apostate church for the destruction of Babylon is at hand in Revelation 19. All three items, the candle, the bridegroom, and the bride are mentioned in Jeremiah 7, verse 34, but also in Jeremiah 16, verse 9, and Jeremiah 25, verse 10. All three are in all three passages. And they're all in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. But here in Revelation 18, verse 23, now it's connected with the destruction of the apostate church. And so what we have discovered is that ancient Jerusalem before the cross is a type or a picture of the New Testament apostate church. Now this fits perfectly the interpretation of Revelation 11, verses one and two. Please turn a few pages back to the 11th chapter of Revelation. Revelation 11 verse 1. In Revelation 11, 1 and 2, we read about three objects of real estate, symbolizing three parts of the New Testament church. We read, Revelation 11 verse 1, And there was given me a reed, like unto a rod. And the angel stood, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without, outside the temple, leave out, and measure it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles. And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." Keep in mind that at the time John received this vision from God, Jerusalem and its temple were already destroyed for at least 25 years. Thus, the holy city and the temple must be taken symbolically. The city of Jerusalem is here a picture of the majority of the New Testament church, which had gone apostate even at the time of John. For even two of the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 were faithful churches. Then God says that the court of the temple area should not be measured. for it is given unto the Gentiles. The court of the temple area represents the show church, which is the group of people who pretend that they are saved. They join the people of God in worship, but they never come close to God. They stay in the court outside the temple proper. The third group of people are those who are truly saved, and they are represented by those who are in the temple proper, in the sanctuary, close to God. The question that is now at hand is whether the historical destruction of the temple in 587 BC also has prophetic meaning for the end time. The answer to this is found in Daniel 8. Daniel 8, verse 11 through 14. Please turn to the prophecy of Daniel. Daniel 8, we'll start reading at verse 11. In Daniel 8, God focuses on a little horn, which represents Antichrist, and how this little horn was able to overcome the saints for a season. The temple is spoken of as the sanctuary, for the temple itself was destroyed for many years. But the language is as if the Old Testament temple would be in existence. And thus the sanctuary is symbolic for that part of the New Testament church that has not gone apostate. We read in Daniel 8, beginning at verse 11. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, this is the horn, and by him the daily The sacrifice was taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression. And it cast down the truth to the ground and it practiced and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking. And another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, how long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot? And he said unto me, unto 2,300 days. Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Verse 11 says, the place of his sanctuary was cast down. In other words, the church was cast down. And verse 14 says that both the sanctuary and the host, the army of Christ, are trod underfoot by the army of Antichrist. How could this come to pass? Why does Christ allow Satan to do this? And what's the meaning of, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed? The ultimate cleansing of the sanctuary occurs at the time of the rapture, when only the saints will be raptured and no one else. And thus, what we see here is that the church is symbolized by the temple, which is actually an Old Testament temple. And the reason why the Lord allows Satan to overrun the church with false gospels that feature signs and wonders and dreams and visions and tongues is that the church is tested during the final tribulation period with all kinds of false gospels. This is the real nature of the final tribulation period, that the churches are overrun by these false gospels so that God will call the church Babylon. The church becomes ripe for judgment, and the last of the elect will be saved in the nick of time, for the true gospel will have ceased to be preached. We are familiar with this mode of operation by Satan. Please turn in your Bibles to the second epistle to the Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3. In this second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, we find that Satan would like to be worshipped as God. This is probably Satan's greatest desire. And when Satan will be loosed during the last end of the final tribulation period, he will try to be worshipped as God. We read in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3, let no man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, basically the son of hell, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. When you read, he as God sitteth in this temple of God, it does not mean that there will be a new physical temple built, but that the local churches will have been so deceived by false gospels that Satan shall be worshipped in the place of God. When people have been deceived by the master deceiver, they will not know that they've been deceived. And so, according to 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3, before the return of Christ there shall be a great falling away from the true gospel. The true gospel will have been silenced. This great apostasy is caused by the man of sin, Antichrist, who is Satan, in the bodies of many false preachers and teachers preaching false gospels throughout the world. This then causes the temple of God or the sanctuary or the local church to be so polluted that God will call the local church Babylon, which he shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. This is the meaning of 2 Thessalonians 2. And this is what we must have in view when we continue to develop the following verses in Matthew 24. And so whether we have an old city of Jerusalem in view, or an Old Testament temple, we must keep in mind that God may be using these as symbols of the church. Please return now to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 24, verse 12. Matthew 24, verse 12, where we read about the love of many shall wax cold. What actually does this mean? It is referring to the love of man toward man, or it can just as well refer to the love of man for God. But when this love waxes cold, it means that this love was not genuine in the first place. We read in Matthew 24 verse 12, and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Here's the reason. Because iniquity shall abound. or because sin shall exceedingly multiply, the love of many shall not be genuine. Let's face the facts. If a man is truly saved, his love for God will not wax cold. And even though sin is surrounding him, his love for God will continually manifest itself that he is saved. For this man, Matthew 4 verse 12, does not apply. But if a man is not truly saved, But he pretends to be saved. His response will be like the seed that was thrown on rocky ground. First the seed germinates, but since it does not have its root in the ground, it will wither and die. And so it is with his love for God. His initial enthusiasm will grow cold, and it's reflected in his spiritual life. This is why Matthew 24 verse 12 says, because iniquity shall abound. In other words, because iniquity shall abound, the fraction of people whose love is genuine is very small. This refers to their love for God as well as their love for man. If someone has a genuine love for God, then his love for man is also very great. When a wife abandons her husband when he's old, it reflects that her love for her husband has waxed cold. And thus in turn it reflects that her love for God is also very small. God has commanded her to take care of her husband. But when her love for God as well as for her husband has waxed cold, then her love for herself has replaced all that. And she has become a selfish individual and she will train up her children to be selfish individuals also. And by the way, we can turn the gender around and all that as well. Men for women, husbands for wives. Now let's first attend to the second half of Matthew 24, verse 12. Let us make sure that our love does not wax cold. Then, when we have learned how to do that, we can pay attention to the first half of the verse. The message of the first half of Matthew 24, 12 is that iniquity shall abound. Please turn in your Bibles to the second epistle to Timothy. Second Timothy, chapter four, verse three. 2nd Timothy 4 verse 3. 2nd Timothy is right after 1st Timothy, if that helps. The Lord addresses Pastor Timothy through the mouth and through the pen of the Apostle Paul. And thus this address is directly to us also. Paul says in the beginning of this chapter, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, preach the word. Be instant, be ready, in season and out of season. This is what we are charged to do. We must preach the gospel. Every time we must weave the true gospel of grace alone, grace alone, into the message we bring. For this reason, 2 Timothy 4 verse 3, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own loss shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." While there is still time, while the gospel still goes out on the internet and reaches to the farthest corners of China and Siberia, we must preach the true gospel of grace alone. But what a glorious outcome. For we read in Matthew 24, verse 14, of the glorious result of all this preaching. We read in Matthew 24, 14, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end come. Let us continue to preach this gospel so that the last of the elect shall be saved. then we will be with the Lord forever. Amen. Let us turn to the Lord in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you for its complexity and its simplicity in which you give a message that is clear when we look at the connections with other parts and compare scripture with scripture. Lord, we pray that this church will continue to give a true gospel and that will go forth powerfully. And as the times continue, it is so hard to find a true gospel of grace alone through Christ alone, through faith alone. And that is the faithful doings of Christ. It is that alone that saves. Lord, as that message is so rare nowadays, we pray that it will still be heard by those that you have elected to hear. Lord, we pray that all honor and glory will go to you. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.