Greetings, I pray the day finds you well. We'll be looking at Matthew chapter 24 today together, as we look at a sermon called Signs and Times. We'll be taking our text from Matthew chapter 24, but we'll be very quickly looking at the context, Matthew chapter 23, in order to understand what Jesus is teaching here. This takes place in the last week of Jesus' ministry. As you know, the triumphal entry occurred on the Sunday of the week that he was crucified. He came in, he looked at the temple, he did the cleansing of the temple, he did several other things during this week. All this time, everything is coming to a crescendo in the Gospels of this great opposition to Jesus. The Gospels drive the reader toward making a decision about who he is, because he's claiming great things, he's showing himself to be this Christ, the Messiah, Son of God, and he is offering himself up for a decision to all. So we see the opposition to him growing in its intensity, and this week they send several people to him to ask him tricky questions, to try to catch him in something. Because of his great momentum, of the waves that Jesus is making, they conspire to kill him. In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus pronounces upon the Pharisees and the scribes, which were leaders among the people, religious leaders primarily, but also spiritual community kind of leaders among them, he pronounces upon them seven woes, which woe is a word that God used in the prophets of when his attitude about somebody was so bad that it could only be described by a word like woe, which is nothing more than a sound you make when you don't know what else to say. And so he pronounces seven woes upon the Pharisees and scribes. He puts in there a refrain of hypocrisy. He scolds them for their hypocrisy, for their obstinance in rejecting God and their share that they took in the murder of the prophets. So very powerful text in Matthew chapter 23 leads us up to this. And we're going to begin by reading actually the very end of Matthew chapter 23, how he kind of sums these things up as he turns his attention toward the temple in Jerusalem. Let's take a look at that together. Matthew chapter 23, starting in verse 37, he says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing. See, your house is left to you desolate, for I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So there we have the introduction to his state of mind, what it is he's thinking about as he comes to these things and he says these. But take a look at these next verses here. As they're leaving, this is what happens. Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out 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 upon another that will not be thrown down. So the disciples, they're walking away, and where they're walking to, they're walking to the Mount of Olives. They're going down across the Kidron Valley, across from Jerusalem on that east side of Jerusalem, and on the Mount of Olives, you would have a good view of the Temple Mount. Here's an artist's depiction of it over here that we see, it's called He Wept Over It by Enrique Simonet, and it shows Jesus, a depiction of Jesus and his disciples overlooking, and you can see in the background there the Temple Mount and the city of Jerusalem from that perspective. And so you could see these things from there, and they're pointing out the buildings to him, and they say to him, hey, take a look at these buildings, aren't they magnificent? And Jesus says, I'll tell you the truth, not one stone will be left upon another. So it's a pretty serious thing, and when someone says something so serious, sometimes immediately we don't know exactly how to respond, and that's a disciple situation. If we look at it, they don't quite know what to say to this, but 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 so the disciples had some conception of the fact things were drawing to a close somehow, that there was going to be some great change. And their messianic expectations, what they were expecting of Messiah, is Messiah indeed would bring a different age in. The descriptions of the prophets concerning this time when the Messiah would come, show a time that's vastly different from any other time that the nation Israel has known. And so they're wondering, when is this going to take place? They're getting impatient because they're seeing on the one hand this great opposition to Jesus, And on the other, kind of a growing support of Jesus. And they see things coming to a head that there's going to be some kind of a conflict, and they just want to know, is the end in sight? Is the light at the end of the tunnel, a train coming the other way? Well, Jesus answers the question. And he answers the question at first generally, but then more specifically. Look at verses four through 14 here. He answers them, see that no one leads you astray. Now, it's very important begins with that because he's also going to end with a similar kind of note. 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 against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death. 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. Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, 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. And so his emphasis in his answer is, see that no one leads you astray, because he starts with saying that first. It's kind of a preface. Look, before you take in any of this information, first of all this, see that no one leads you astray. And then he continues, and he gives them kind of an overview of what things are going to be like. And this is very important for us to understand, because he is revealing here a great truth that his first coming is not peace to everyone. And indeed, he talks about the spreading of the gospel, which implies the work of the apostles and the work of the church. As he told them, I will build my church. And you're seeing this work of the gospel, work of the church, and yet there's still wars and rumors of wars. There's still hatred and tribulation. and betrayal and all these things are happening all the while he's saying there's a spread of the gospel. So it's very clear that Jesus' first coming was not to bring peace. And indeed, the gospel being spread through the church will not bring peace ultimately to this world except that Jesus will return. And so he sets the tone, he sets the precedence, he sets the expectations for this whole church age, ever since the time he's speaking until now, what we are to expect. Well, generally, bad things. And he describes them as the beginning of birth pains. And as we know, birth pains begin somewhat mild. I know some ladies will disagree with me about that. But they do begin milder than they are at the end. They grow in their intensity and they grow in their frequency. And that is why it's used to describe the last days, is that difficulties will come upon the world in increasing measure until a time that's called the Great Tribulation, which we'll speak about next. Let's take a look at that. It goes on in verse 15. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, Let the one who's on the housetop not go down to take what's in his house, and let the one who's in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath, for then there will be great tribulation. Such has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So if they say to you, look, he is in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, look, he's in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. So Jesus gives us some very astonishing descriptions of how things will be. First of all, in verse 15, he speaks of this abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. You'll find that in Daniel 9.24, 1131 and 1211 in the prophecies of Daniel. And he says, let the reader understand. Now for all of the details concerning that and also concerning his use of the scripture and how prophecies often fulfilled, I will refer you to the longer version of the sermon. I have much more to say about this topic and indeed I've already said it in another version. This is the short version. I'm going to give you the sense of it. There was an event that had already happened about 167 BC in which a Greek leader set up an altar to Zeus in the temple. And he commanded that sacrifices be made on that of unclean animals, including pigs, which would be a total astonishing abomination to the Jews. That not only would someone else set up an altar to someone else in their temple, but then would use it to sacrifice an unclean animal. And indeed, this man of Tychus Epiphanes did many other things, and that is understood both in the context of Daniel and in the history of the Jews and in the history of the church, that that took place in 167 BC in fulfillment of what Daniel spoke of. Now here, some 200 years later, Jesus speaks of it warning the disciples when they see it. Well, they're not gonna see it unless they can go back in time 200 years. The reason he says this is there's obviously going to be some additional fulfillment of this. And this is common in the scripture for a prophecy to have more than one fulfillment. I'll refer you to Isaiah chapter seven, where it speaks of the coming Emmanuel, God with us, that had a meaning at that time in Isaiah seven. and it had a meaning when Christ came and it was applied to him. There are many others like the passage in Isaiah 61 which Jesus splits at basically the equivalent of a comma when he's reading the scroll in Galilee that it speaks both of his first and second coming in one verse and he holds off in the middle of a verse and says, this has been fulfilled and you're hearing it. And so this is often how scripture fulfills the prophecies, how prophecies are fulfilled and how they're laid out in scripture. So I refer you to some of those into the long version if you're interpreted, if you interpret or want to know how that's interpreted more frequently. But let's look at this passage. Why would we not take this as being completely fulfilled at AD 70? Because the early church recognized the words Jesus says If you go over to Luke chapter 21, and you start about verse 20, you'll see more description given of armies surrounding Jerusalem and stuff, and that's the cue to get out of Jerusalem. And the early church understood that, and indeed, when the Jews rebelled against Rome, and they were constantly rebelling against Rome, but this particular time, around AD 70, the Romans surrounded the city of Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and the early Christians saw that, and took the words of Jesus, understanding it because the gospels were already written, and they left town. And over a million Jews were killed when the Romans destroyed the temple and, you know, eventually attacked Jerusalem. It's not their intention to destroy the temple, but it happened anyway because it's what God wanted to do. And so the, this, most of this was fulfilled in a way in AD 70. Many people argue that all of it was fulfilled in AD 70, but let me show you a couple things. In verses 21 and 22, it says this in the scriptures. It says, great tribulation such as not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. Well, we do know that worse things have happened since AD 70, and worse things happened before then. And so this is going beyond the description of AD 70 and applying this to a time that we have not yet seen, for we have seen worse things than what happened on those days. Though it was very terrible, it has indeed been worse. Another reason is this, in verse 15, where he speaks of this abomination of desolation. This is such a wicked, terrible thing in the context of Daniel, and in the context of what actually happened historically, that this has not happened yet. Nothing like that happened in the temple other than the temple simply being destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. And so these things have fulfillment that seems to go beyond A.D. 70, and that's why we can apply yet a future fulfillment to it. Let's go on and read more of these signs starting in verse 29. If we look starting in verse 29, this is what it says there. We get caught up to where we are in the scriptures. Starting in verse 29 it says, Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 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 will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." So these other signs include major signs in the heavens, not just an eclipse, but the stars falling from the heavens, powers of the heavens shaking, things of that nature. We've seen many eclipses, both lunar and solar eclipses, but this simply cannot be described here. It says the sun will be darkened, not just blocked. I mean, this description here, you know, we've seen these eclipses come and go without the accompanying other things, such as the sign of the son of man. which according to verse 27, like the lightning is seen from the east to the west. You know, when a storm comes by, you can see the lightning very, very far off. And when it flashes, it seems to flash everywhere at the same time. This is how the coming of the Son of Man will be. When Jesus returns to the earth to bring judgment and begin his righteous reign upon the earth, it will be something that everyone will be able to see. It will be a supernatural event that somehow the whole world's going to see it. at the same time. So that's very important. And in fact, his coming is described in Acts 1.11, where Jesus reiterates, or has reiterated by angels, how this is going to take place. In Acts chapter one, he ascends to heaven, and they're all looking on, and they're all kind of stunned and perplexed at obviously what they're seeing. And they're looking up into heaven in verse 10, And 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 will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. And so his return is going to be something visible from heaven. Why does he go through so much trouble to say it that way? Well, he goes through even more trouble to say, so if somebody comes along saying, oh, Jesus is here and he's back and he's teaching Sunday school at First Baptist, or he says anything like that. He's over here in Australia, walking the streets, preaching, and he's really interesting. Don't listen to him. We have no need to listen to understand that that is not him. He is returning in a way, when he returns for the whole earth, that they will see it. Now he goes on to give yet another kind of time marker in verses 32 to 35, which we'll read very quickly here. Starting in verse 32, he says this. Sorry, I've skipped way too far into the next chapter. In verse 32, he says, from the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branches become tender and put out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, 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. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." So here Jesus is giving us some very important information. What we see here in these verses is possibly a suggestion by Jesus that Israel will indeed be reestablished even after this destruction. The reason why we understand it can mean that is in this same week and in the same context of speaking about the judgment on Jerusalem and the ending of his religious system, as they're returning from the temple to go back to the Mount of Olives one evening, they see a fig tree there. Jesus looks for fruit on its leaves, and he curses it. And then they come back by that way, presumably the next day, and they see that the tree is withered. And they ask Jesus about this, and Jesus' answer implies that, This is about a discontinuation, a lack of bearing fruit for the Israelite way and their religion that is now under the judgment of God and will pass away. So what we're seeing in these signs is basically Jesus answering these two questions in this way. Remember the two questions they ask, it will be about when is this going to take place and what will be the signs. The first question, when, Jesus answers this way, after many things. Now, he purposefully gives an ambiguous answer because what we're going to see is that Jesus' emphasis is not on us knowing when. In fact, he tells them plainly in Acts chapter one, it's not for you to know the times, but for you to be faithful. That's his emphasis here. That's the important part. And then he answers what will be the signs. Well, basically, things are going on like normal on earth. We've always had wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and famines and hatred of God's people and from time and place all around the world. At some point, someone's being persecuted for the Christian faith. We've seen all these things, and we've seen the gospel go out. What does he mean by all nations? We're not sure, but we're kind of keeping track of people groups to try to make sure that everyone gets the gospel. Indeed, that's just part of being faithful with the gospel. He was purposely ambiguous in these things as well. However, he gives us a clue. These things will be increasing in frequency and intensity. In other words, these are, as the beginning of birth pains, that these things will get worse. Powerfully important lessons to the church so that when something like COVID-19 comes along, when there's famines and earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars and persecution and trials and tribulation, we're not to be shaken. He tells them, do not be alarmed. That brings us to the lessons that we come to here. When the real distinct signs come, the signs in the sun, moon, and stars and those like that, the sign of the son of man like lightning from the east to the west, it's too late then. Now is the time to be found working and faithful and following Jesus and doing his will on earth. Let's take a look at how he describes it. If we go back to the text, He now turns his attention to how we're supposed to understand these things. Verses 36-44, listen to what he says. He says, "...concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left. Therefore stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake, and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is the servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, so the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, not an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place, there will be weeping, gnashing of teeth. Jesus uses some very strong and very serious language, some graphic language, to teach us this lesson. We must be found faithful. That's his emphasis of this whole thing because he's going to go on in chapter 25 to give two more graphic illustrations of what it means to be faithful and how important it is to be found faithful. This is powerfully important because this is his emphasis. This serves as bookends for his talk because he begins with, see that no one leads you astray. He has in the middle there, make sure, you know, don't be alarmed. The end is not yet. And he gives in the middle there also the time is not yet, that these things will happen. We're not to be alarmed. And then he gives at the end here the real point, be found faithful. Don't be led astray. He gives the warnings right in the middle of the false prophets not to be fooled or led astray. So he wants us to stay awake, to be alert. When he brings in the description of times of Noah here, it's important for us to really ponder those. Go back and read the account in Genesis 6 through 9. Everyone was going about their lives. They were going right on sinning, doing everything they were doing. Noah, who's called in the New Testament a herald of righteousness, he built an ark. Was he a herald because he preached? Well, I'm sure someone asked him, what you building? And he would tell them. And they would probably scoff at him and give him a hard time. Yeah, what are you crazy? You know, we don't even have a body of water big enough to put that in. It's not gonna fit in the river. Are you nuts? And so, you know, he and his family alone were saved. They went into the ark at the appointed time. It was God who shut the door. He set the timetable for things. And then it was too late for everyone on the outside who had seen the witness the testimony of the ark being built, and that faithful herald of righteousness, Noah. It's going to be the same thing in our day, he says. Very important that we are to be found working. This is the emphasis of Jesus, not in the details, not laying out a timeline to satisfy our curiosity, but the actions of his people, how we ought to be found faithfully taking care of business when he returns. In the next chapter, he'll tell us a parable of the talents in which money was left to certain servants to care for, for the sake of their master. As he left, he came back to see what they had done with it. And indeed, so it will be with the people of God. Take this time that we have to serve. And I've got some very practical suggestions for that. Churches, we're in a time when we're not meeting together on Sundays. We're in a time that's somewhat unprecedented for us as a church, though things Similar things have happened to churches in the past. Far worse things have happened to churches in the past. But we find ourselves in a time when without meeting on a regular basis, we might not be found as faithful. We might not be found as urgent to do the things because we are limited. But you're not limited entirely. My suggestion is this. Try to make one phone call a day to a fellow believer Jesus Christ to see how they're doing and see what they need. Remember, Jesus said the defining mark of his people would be how they loved one another. Reach out with the telephone or FaceTime or Zoom, whatever you want to do, and connect with God's people. Don't lose your connection with God's people. Do not try to exist alone as a Christian, because we weren't made for that. Make one phone call a day to a non-Muslim. someone who is not of the people of God. See how they're doing. See if you can serve them. See if they've considered what the coming crisis means to them, what the current crisis of COVID-19 means, and explain to them that, well, this is like a birth pain. This is telling us that there's a greater judgment coming. There's something far worse than COVID-19 coming, that the Lord is coming back. And at that time, he will judge not just the actions of men, but the thoughts and intentions of their heart. We have a perfect opportunity, as we always do with all the difficulty in the world, to witness to our fellow man and urge them to get in the ark, to become a believer in Jesus Christ. There's no other way to be saved in this time. Maybe alternate days, make one phone call one day to a believer, make another phone call another day to a non-believer. One call a day is not too much to ask. Also invest your time in praying and seeking his word. No phone call should be made until you've prayed about it. Pray before the phone call. Pray with people during the phone call because you're united in the spirit to God with believers. And you can pray with them over the phone. Don't lose that privilege and opportunity and make conference calls and get with more than one person and have that opportunity for prayer together. And you can meet one or two together and strengthen each other in prayer and in seeking his word. So we want to be found faithful at all times, and especially maybe right now. The other lesson we need to gain from this is very important, critically important. When we read about the coming judgment on the earth, we want to understand this. God is in control, that he has a plan and he is executing it. And it's important because Jesus, when we often put the emphasis on the fact that Jesus doesn't even know the day or the hour, we don't know the day or the hour, but did you notice in saying that? The Father knows the day and the hour. He knows the precise day and the hour in which he's going to send Jesus back. And for that reason, we know that he's executing a plan, that whatever difficulty comes along is part of his plan. The world is not going to end with a zombie apocalypse. might be something that looks like one along the way, the world is not going to end with destruction by space aliens. The world's not even going to end in nuclear war, though one could happen, but the human race will survive because we know the human race ends when the Lord returns. Some of them end this life to go to an eternal life of glory and joy with the Savior, Some of them end this life and go to a new existence of eternal punishment. So understand an end is coming and all these things are but signs, but birth pains that show us that this is happening. We don't have to fret. God is in control. And part of this trusting God is this. We don't have to look around at the conditions of the world and lament the failure of his church. We're told well ahead of time that he is the one building his church. He is not going to fail. And although it may look like we don't have the influence on society we'd like to have, that we're not having the impact we'd like to have, that maybe we're not satisfied with the numbers, you can be assured of this, that things will grow worse in the world, that there will be a great falling away, that there will be more false teachers in the days to come. Now that doesn't absolve us of our responsibility to do the very best, to take every thought captive, to put down these false teachers, to defeat them with reason and the Word of God, mostly the Word of God. So it's important for us to rest that God is in control, we understand that, and no one can take what we have in Him away from us. He is using the difficulties and using these times to draw his saints and to perfect his saints. It's important because if you know anything about God, you know that he is good. And therefore, his goodness has to be at work all the time. So yes, that means even when there's a virus spreading around the world, causing economic destruction because of our responses to it, causing sickness, and even death to many, that God is working it to good. You have to believe that if you believe in a good God. I want to give you a couple illustrations and a quote. I want to give you a quote of our friend Alistair Begg in his sermon that he did on the coming of Jesus on the triumphal entry. He said this, he says, this warning of coming judgment comes from one, whose eyes are full of tears. Did you hear the pain in Jesus' voice in Matthew 23 when he says, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. There are a few times in the scripture where someone's name is repeated. There are a few times in scripture when someone says, oh. And here Jesus says, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. He's brokenhearted. Luke tells us that he wept over the city. that he had been reaching out to them for centuries, sending prophets to them with the word, and he had laid before them in the covenant with Moses at Mount Sinai, look, I'm laying before you life and death. Choose life. Please choose life. And he sent prophets to remind him, look, choose life. Look, here's all we need to do to follow God. And they refused him, and they beat them, and they killed them. just like they did John the Baptist, just like they did our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course he wept. He reached out to these people all this time, as he reaches out today. And it's really no different with other people than it was with Israel, as far as he reaches out with the gospel message, and he is mostly rejected. But Jesus told us that's the way it would be, be mostly rejected. We have to view our present situation with COVID-19 as we view everything in the world. We have to view it through the lens of scripture, understanding that God is unfolding a redemption plan, a plan of mercy and grace. And for that reason, everything that happens, every event that happens, needs to be taken captive by us to show the relevance of our message to show the urgency to respond in repentance and faith toward Jesus Christ. I heard an illustration regarding how do we frame and how do we understand the Lord working through these difficulties. Because many people will come and will accuse God of being a bad God. Well, if there's a God, what kind of God must he be to allow these things to happen? I encourage you to turn that question around with people and begin to ask instead, if God is such a good God, why has he put up with us for so long? Because we hear his word and we reject it. We point our finger at him. We shake him. We judge him. We put him up to the test. And we look at what's going on in the world and we accuse him. How can he possibly be good when it is us who should be examined? It is we who have sinned. It is we who have departed from the way of life and we have chosen death over God. We should be turning this around the other way. But God in his kindness has delayed the judgment that he pronounced upon Adam in the garden. He says, in the day you eat of it, you will surely die. And ever since that day, we have been on a stay of execution. We have been deserving of death. And while we are spiritually dead, our physical death has been delayed. Why? Well, Peter tells us he delays his return in patience toward us, hoping that we will repent. and come to Him and believe in Jesus Christ. I've heard an illustration put this way. It's like pulling a splinter from a child. And most of you who are parents have experienced this situation in administering some kind of medicine, some kind of result, some kind of a help to a child that in the short term is very painful, but in the long term is to their great benefit. And if you've pulled a splinter out of your child's hand, they fussed and they cried and they fought as you probably had to hold them down to get a good angle on it to pull it out, but you had to pull it out. Why? So that it wouldn't get infected and be a far worse thing. There are far worse things than having a splinter. And folks, there are far worse things than COVID-19. For the coming judgment of the Lord upon this earth, and a time will come when it will be too late. to repent and trust in Christ. So now he pulls out the splinter. Now he administers the medicine that tastes bad going down, but heals ultimately. That's the gospel truth. If there is anything whatsoever in existence, it is here for the purposes of God and for his glory, be it good or bad in our estimation, it is all good in what he will work it toward, because he is good. That brings us to probably the most important application of these things. In the light of all this coming judgment, we must repent, trust in Jesus Christ. From beginning to end, the Gospels are driving the reader to a decision concerning Jesus. Is He who He says He is? This Son of God who has life in His hands, and life is found nowhere else but in Him. He makes all those claims in the Gospels. Is that true? Or is it not? Search the scriptures. Find if it's true. And get help searching those scriptures from the people of God. John outlines that as the very purpose of his gospel. Near the end of the Gospel of John, he says, these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing, have life in his name. God is so good to have given us these warnings, these birth pains, the ability to wake up in the morning with an acre of pain and ponder, why is it that things are falling apart? Why do people age, perish? Why do the nations rage and plot vain things? It's because God is so good as to allow us to have the gospel. So the most important thing we must do, he talks about in Matthew chapter 25, he gives us a parable of virgins waiting for the bride. They would wait with the bride for the bridegroom to come. And Jesus uses the illustration of himself that he is like a bridegroom who has gone off to prepare a place for us, that he has betrothed himself to us in the Lord's Supper, a promise, a covenant to come and return and take us to be with him forever. And he uses that illustration, and he continues that illustration in Matthew 25 to speak of these virgins who are waiting for the bridegroom, but they're not sure when he's coming. And there's 10 of them, and five of them took extra oil for their lamps so that their lamps would be sure to burn through the night, and they would be ready for the bridegroom when he came, because they would have the lamps and be able to travel with him to where he was going. Lamps are interesting, because lamps are a symbol and lamps in their day contained oil as the fuel for the lamp. And in the scriptures, oil is often representative of the Holy Spirit of God. And the difference between the virgins who were ready and were able to go with the bridegroom at the right time versus the others who were not ready and were disappointed was the oil in the lamps. Jesus is telling us, we have to be born again. We have to have the Holy Spirit of God. There's no list of religious things that we could do that can save us. Jesus made that crystal clear from the beginning of his ministry to the end, that it's about being born again. Nicodemus came to see him in the middle of the night. It's recorded in John chapter three. He said, what must I do? What's about this kingdom? And Jesus says, you must be born again. No one will see the kingdom of God without having been born of water Spirit. This is an act of the Holy Spirit. It's not something that human beings can do. How are we born again then? First, we begin by recognizing that we ourselves have sinned and that we deserve God's wrath. I would refer you to Leviticus 20 to look at the Ten Commandments and really consider those things. Even if you think you can justify having obeyed the Ten Commandments, which I'm sure none of us do, and go to the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus tells us it's not just about murder, it's about whether we've ever hated somebody, and it's not just about adultery, it's about whether we've ever had lust in our hearts, and it's not just about religious things that we do, though the religious things are good things, to gather together to pray, to read the word of God, all those are good things, but he says if we do them with the wrong heart, it's no good. If we do it to be seen by others or for selfish reasons, it's no good. So even our good works can't account for it. Our good works can't make up for our bad, because our good works are offered up to God on hands that have committed sin. Effectively, we're trying to hand Him something, but our hands are dirty. And He is so perfect and wonderful and holy that He cannot accept what is dirty like that. No, instead, what Jesus offers, an exchange. He offers an exchange. He puts Himself upon the cross, and on that cross, He pays the price for the sins of the world, for all those that will believe in Him. The wrath of God that was due, therefore, to us if we believe and trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation, all that wrath, instead of coming upon us, goes upon Jesus. And the exchange of it is this. We give the wrath of our sins upon Jesus Christ on the cross, God does, And He, in turn, gives us the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Like I said, no amount of good works can overcome sins that we've committed. But all the good works of Jesus Christ, having never sinned Himself, having perfectly fulfilled everything God ever asked Him to do, He said that it was His food to do the will of God. He perfectly did God's will all the time. That righteousness, we're told in Romans chapter 3, is offered to us to represent God's behalf. And so His righteousness on us, our sins on Him, and this comes by repenting of our sins, that is turning from them, never wanting to do them again, and trusting that what the Bible says is true about Jesus, that He paid the price for our sins. If we trust that, if we believe that, We repent and turn from our sins. We will be saved. This is the promise of scripture. This is the purpose of the difficulties that we have to drive us to that point and make us new again. Let's pray. Father God, we praise you that in your kindness, you have revealed the gospel of Jesus Christ. And indeed, you have revealed it every day from heaven as your wrath is shown in the difficulties of the world, in the aging process, the death that surrounds us at all times. Lord, you have shown us clearly that there is a problem, and you have displayed the answer in the person of Jesus Christ. I pray all of us would understand this more today, Lord. For your faithful, I pray that they would be found working. I pray even all the more, as it's difficult to meet together, that they would continue all the stronger to seek you, to know you, and to spread your good truth. Lord, I pray for those who do not know You, that they would consider the things that have been spoken of here today, and rather than ask the opinion of the world, I pray that they would search Your Scriptures to see if these things are so. Lord, I pray that You'll grant them the wisdom to see it. These things are spiritually discerned, and it is by Your Spirit that You will convict, that You will show the truth, and it is by the Spirit that we worship You and praise You for Your goodness in all this. We thank You in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, that concludes this morning's service, and I pray that you will consider the things that you've heard here today. I pray that you'll join us again very soon. If you have questions about what you've heard here today, please contact us. You can find our information at whitesrun.org, or you can email us at whitesrunbaptist at gmail.com. Maybe the best thing to do is to contact the person who forwarded this information to you, that you may be able to get with them and have them answer your questions concerning Jesus Christ. So I pray this has been encouraging to you, and I pray that you have a blessed day.