I welcome you to Providence for Today. You might ask, why do you call your radio broadcast Providence for Today? Well, first of all, Providence is the name of our congregation. We began in 1980. I have been the pastor of the church since 1995. We have from that day endeavored to preach and to worship according to God's sovereign grace. Secondly, Providence is the theme of the scriptures. The Bible begins with God, and it unfolds who He is and what He is doing. What God predestined before the foundation of the worlds, He brings to pass by providence. By man, providence can be resisted, but it certainly cannot be stopped. It can't even be slowed. Thirdly, providence is the silver thread running through the doctrinal article of salvation in the scripture. The election of grace was God's decree before the foundation of the world. In that election, He chose definite individuals upon whom to bestow His grace and reveal His saving goodness. Christ died for those, remitted their sins, and justified them before God. God providentially brings each of these to the knowledge of his gospel in every generation so that salvation rests upon the will of providence, not upon the will of man. And fourthly, I would say to you that providence defines what God is doing in our day. The old writers and even the founders of this nation use providence as the name of God. They understood him to be the supreme disposer of all events, as they said. He is no different today from any previous day. And I hope you are enabled to see the hand of providence in your own lives. We have seen this providence in John the Baptist, and Saul of Tarsus, and Lydia, the seller of purple, the disciples. Zacchaeus, who climbed up in the tree to see Jesus, the blind men going into and out of Jericho, the one sheep that was lost in the wilderness that he went to seek and providentially brought home, and others in our study in just one year. And we'll continue to look upon these matters of providence. Christ did not fail in his redemption, and he will not fail to bring each of these to the knowledge of the truth. What is it that assures that? It is providence. The third chapter of Ecclesiastes begins with these words, To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. You see, what God has purposed for our day, we don't know. But we know that He has purposed His own will, and according to His will, and He will bring it to pass by providence. So with those few thoughts in mind concerning why we call it Providence for today, we turn our attention to our study in Matthew, moving toward the three parables at the conclusion of chapter 24 and into chapter 25. Now the question of authority. which is found in the 21st chapter of Matthew in verses 23 through 25 remain the backdrop of the Lord's words. I just read verse 23 to you of Matthew 21. And when he was coming to the temple, the chief priest and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching and said, by what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority? Well, Matthew reveals that Christ answered with three parables. There was the parable of the two sons in chapter 21, beginning with verse 28. The parable of the vineyard, which is found in chapter 21, beginning with verse 33. And then the parable of the marriage supper for the son, which begins in chapter 22 and goes through the first 14 verses. The parables condemned national Israel and religious leaders. They foretell the gospel going to the Gentiles and conclude with one of the most simply stated verses declaring election and the effectual call of grace in all of scripture. We talked about this last week where the Lord Jesus said, for many are called, but few are chosen. When he said for many are called, he's talking about the general call that goes out to all men. It is that call that is announced by God's preachers, calling men to Christ. But we know that that general call alone is not effectual or effective in bringing anyone to the knowledge of the truth. And then he compares the many to the few, and he says, few are chosen, few are elected, is what he truly says. So many are called, but few are chosen, and it's only the few who are chosen who are going to hear the call. There's going to be an effectual call for them that brings them out of ignorance and into knowledge and out of darkness and into light. and out of the lostness of their world into the knowledge of the salvation in Christ. So they don't know about their election. They don't know about their justification. They don't know about their reconciliation to God, their redemption. But in the preaching of the gospel, God makes this known in the heart, not audibly, but in the heart. Now, when we look at the scripture, it remained Tuesday. So it's that what we would consider our Tuesday before the Thursday before the Lord would ultimately be, of course, arrested and then tried all through that night and on Friday, crucified. And it tells us in the 22nd chapter that the three groups questioned the Lord Jesus in order to entangle Him. That's what it says, entangle Him. It says, then when the Pharisees took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. Can you imagine poor, pitiful, ignorant man trying to entangle the very Son of God, the very embodiment of wisdom itself, trying to entangle him in his talk. And of course what happened was he entangled them. And so the chapter concludes with Matthew affirming the victorious lordship of Christ over his pursuers where it says, and no man was able to answer him a word. Neither did any man from that day ask him any more questions. So a little bit humorous is Matthew in the 22nd chapter in the 46th verse, that no man was able to answer him a word. And from that day, they decided we better not ask him any more questions. By following the questions, he delivered a lengthy condemnation of the religious leaders in Matthew 23. And oh, dear friend, when you read that chapter, you see that it is a merciless, scathing discourse that the Lord announced down on these men. The denunciation took place in the temple, right in the teeth of his enemies. his denunciation open with the Lord, remarking on the love of religious leaders for the recognition of other men. And may I say to you that this is a general problem with preachers in every generation. they perform for one another. It's a tendency of preachers to preach to preachers and do what they do for other preachers. Partially men are looking for the recognition of other men. Now a man who is given to this recognition of other men is not going to have the recognition of the Lord Jesus Christ and of God's glory. And so that's the first 12 verses of the 23rd chapter. I'm not going to read all of it. Now from verse 13 down to verse 33 of this 23rd chapter, there are a series of what are called woes. So you see it, W-O-E-S, woes. And the word woe is judgment. So you see a series of judgments on the religious leaders. And then he concluded the discourse by declaring his mercy and their stubborn rebellion. It says in Matthew 23 and verse 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not. So in the light of all that he had said in Matthew 23, He declared His mercy and He declared their obstinance and therefore it was just for God to bring judgment upon their head. Now their coming desolation and prophecy of the future is set forth in the 39th verse where he said, behold your house is left unto you desolate. And he concluded what we call the 23rd chapter by quoting from Psalm 118 and verse 26 where the Psalm reads, For I say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth till you shall say, this is Jesus speaking, then he quotes from the 118th Psalm, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Now, when he quotes from this 118th Psalm, he declared two truths unto them. First of all, the Old Testament concerns himself. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. He's not talking about another prophet, not even of John the Baptist. He is talking about himself. And secondly, not only does the Old Testament scripture concern him, but also not bowing to him in this present generation meant that they wouldn't see him again, meaning in his kingdom. Now if you looked at this statement in the original language, This is what is called a mood of condition. The technical word is a subjunctive. It's a mood of condition. And what it means is unless they agree with scripture, of what it says in Psalm 118, that he is the one that is predicted, and that he came in fact in the name of the Lord, unless they agreed, with scripture, they will not enter into his kingdom. So the Lord made a powerful statement to them. They said that they believed the scripture and he's telling them, you do not believe the scripture. For if you believe the scripture, you would bow to me. But you don't believe the scripture, therefore you don't bow to me. And since you don't bow to me, you will not enter into my kingdom. May I say to you again that God is just in making such a strong condemnation because Christ is the very subject of the Old Testament. Then, when you leave the 23rd chapter and you go into the 24th chapter, you come to a chapter that is often a chapter of great disagreement among Bible students. He departs from the temple to deliver what is referred to as the Mount Olivet Discourse. And the theme of the Mount Olivet discourse is the destruction of Jerusalem and judgment down on the head of the nation of Israel. In the second verse, rather, I'm in the 24th chapter, and in the second verse, there is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. It reads like this. Jesus said, see ye not all these things? Verily, or truly, I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, and that shall not be thrown down." So what he's talking about is the destruction of the city. And when he says that, the disciples ask him a series of questions. There are actually three questions that are here. The first question they ask him is, tell us when shall these things be? Now, may I say that this is the natural curiosity of all men. Men want to know when shall these things be? How close are we? When is this going to take place? And Matthew didn't answer. because his purpose was to proclaim the kingdom of God. But God did give us an answer through the physician Luke in the 21st chapter beginning with verse 24. Let me read those verses to you. This is what Luke wrote. And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is near. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it depart out of it, and let them that are in the countries enter therein too. For these in the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled, but woe or judgment. unto them that are with child, and to them that gifts suck in those days, for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon his people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. When Jesus said in verses, what Jesus said in verses 21 through the first part of verse 24, is also what He says a little bit later in Luke 23, when He's walking toward Golgotha, that is Calvary, when He's leaving Pilate's home, Pilate's courthouse. And he is carrying his cross and then falls beneath the cross or becomes weary under the cross and the cross is given over to Simon the Cyrenian. And there are women that are crying for him and he tells them, don't cry for me, but cry for yourselves. And he pretty much repeats the same thing that he said right here. And he's telling them that judgment is coming upon your land. And clearly he spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem, which was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Romans overran the city of Jerusalem and leveled the city to the ground, pretty much. What Jesus said at the conclusion of verse 24 regarding the times of the Gentiles being fulfilled is a matter of great importance. I won't speak of it all together here, but I say a word or two about it. Paul recorded this in Romans 11 in verse 25. For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in." Now, the blindness in the part of that has happened to Israel, this is God's purpose and it's God's plan that was necessary that national Israel fall away to set aside and create a new people. And then it says, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. This was a prophecy throughout the Old Testament, particularly in the prophets. You see this a lot in Isaiah and Jeremiah and other prophets down to Malachi. To fulfill the fulfillment of the mystery in Christ, And it's no longer a prophecy now, but it is a fulfillment. So what was prophecy then, that was a mystery in Christ, is now a fulfillment. When it says, come in, this is again another one of those conditional statements, and it's connected with a point-action verb, it is called, and so it would come in all at once. It's a point-action. It refers to the particular point of Christ coming in. It's conditional upon Him coming in. The entrance of the Gentiles, in other words, was conditioned upon the falling away of the Jews and upon the coming in of Jesus Christ. National Israel fell away by rejecting their King and their Messiah and the time of the Gentiles come in was fulfilled in the reconciling death of the Savior Jesus Christ. Paul wrote these words in Ephesians 2 and verse 11 and following he said, wherefore remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision. In other words, it was a term of derision by the Jews toward the Gentiles that they were not a part of the covenant. And the sign of the covenant was circumcision. He said, by which is called the circumcision the flesh made by hands. At that time, you were without Christ. That's the first thing, the five things it said here. First of all, you're without Christ. Second of all, you're aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Thirdly, you are strangers from the covenants of promise. Number four, you have no hope. And number five, you are without God in this world. Now if there's anything worse than that, I surely do not want to hear about it. In verse 13 he says, but now, you see something has happened. But now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. For he is our peace, and hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of Twain or of the two one new man, so making peace. By the two he's talking about some Jews and some Gentiles, and so making peace between them and God and between them and one another. That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. and came and preached peace to you which were far off into them that are nigh." In other words, the Gentiles and the Jews. For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. When he talks about this times of the Gentiles, I say to you, we are in the times of the Gentiles. It's not a time to come, it's a time right now. God's principle saving work is no longer with a certain race of people, namely the descendants of Abraham, but with Jews and Gentiles in one body conditioned upon the body and the soul and the obedience and righteousness of Jesus Christ. The times of the Gentiles is not something upon which we wait, but is being fulfilled even right now. Furthermore, it reaches from the first advent of Christ to his personal and powerful return. The words of Jesus tell us the nation will be trodden down according to verse 24 in Luke 21. Now for 2,000 years we have observed this. While I believe it right ethically, politically, and militarily for the United States of America to defend our Mideast friend Israel, let those of us who believe the scripture know we cannot, I repeat, we cannot change providence or history. So now let's consider the other two questions that you have in Matthew 24. It says, what shall be the sign of your coming? And what is the sign of the end of the age? His coming is to bring judgment upon Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem. His coming had to do with his advent of power and authority. This portion of their question shows they perceived how far-reaching, or at least to some extent, the far-reaching considerations of his quotation from Psalm 118. And so we see how he answered them. And Matthew 24 has two broad divisions. There is the division that goes from verse 4 down to verse 31. And it is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. The verses describe people being run down by invading Roman armies, which, of course, the history books record. And it culminated in 70 AD. One of the history books, a book called The Jewish Wars, said this, and none had the city been so magnificent, its fortifications so powerful, its population so crowded. It was Passover time. But in addition to the crowds assembled for this event, vast numbers had hurried there, fleeing from the advancing Roman armies. The loss of life was enormous. Refugees to Titus gave 600,000, 600,000, as the number did. The siege commenced, we know, on the 14th of Nisan in 70 AD, which was Passover. and concluded 134 days later. And all but three towers on the western walls were leveled to the ground, and they were kept up only as a camp for the 10th Legion of the Roman Army. And the rest of the city was dug to its foundations, that also in the Jewish Wars in Volume 7. For 60 years after this, the capture After its capture, silence reigns over Jerusalem, according to a dictionary I read. The Jewish people, as well as Christians, were dispersed to various Gentile nations, and it's been that way until the middle part of the last century. And then from verse 32 down through verse 51, Jesus talks about preparation for this destruction. Verse 34 pertains to that present generation because in verse 34 He says, Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. And this is consistent saying that this is having to do with the destruction of Jerusalem. For example, in the 23rd chapter in verse 36, he said, Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. So he's talking about them right now. However, I also say to you that by implication, this is to every generation for us all to be prepared and look for another day in which things will end. In verse 35, Jesus said, heaven and earth, and I'm in Matthew 24 now. In verse 35, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. What Jesus is saying is that his words are unalterable, and his predestination and the providence of God are certainly immutable or unchangeable. My words shall not pass away. In verse 36, he said, but of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Hebrews 10 and 25 written in the middle part of the century following Christ. It says, Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more, listen now, we see the day approaching. They saw that day coming. They could see that things were lining up and that what Jesus had said to them about the destruction of Jerusalem, He said, don't forsake your assembling together. We see the day approaching. He's talking about this day of destruction. Believers lived in the reality of coming judgment in the first century. And then from verse 37 down to verse 44, he compared life to the days of Noah. And I would say to you three things about the day of Noah, just three quick things. First of all, there was a departure from divine order. Jesus says that there was eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Now, of course, none of these things are good. In fact, there are certain things about all of them that are good. But what it indicates is that they were engaged in an intemperate, indulgent, and uncontrolled lifestyle and behavior. 611 of Genesis used two words to describe that day. One was violence and the other, it says, they were corrupt. It is clear that the elect line intermarried with the non-elect line, which was departure from divine order, and it caused order to break down. And that is the root of the breakdown of any culture. Secondly, there was ignorance of divine revelation. The Apostle Peter said that Noah was a preacher of righteousness, 2 Peter 2 and 5. He preached just actions by men, the necessity of justice before God, and the righteousness that would come from the Messiah. And then, not only was there departure from divine order and ignorance of divine revelation, but thirdly, I would say there was deafness to the divine message. The apostle in Hebrews 11 made the point that Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear, prepared the ark. Noah, in fact, prepared the ark and built and preached. This righteousness to the people for 120 years, but what did they do? They laughed, mocked, and turned a deaf ear. Jesus said it clearly until that day, Noah that entered into the ark. Yes, they turned a deaf ear to the divine message, and it is not also the same today. Now, men love religion. Men love something of their own will, but a salvation that's outside of them by Jesus Christ alone, they'll have none of it. In verse 39 through verse 41, Jesus then gives a parable-like illustration of judgment coming when He says that two will be in a field, one taken and the other left. Two women grinding in a mill, one taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour the Lord does come. Verse 44, Therefore be ye also ready for such an hour as you think not that He comes. And then that brings us to this parable of the faithful servant. We'll need to pick up with this parable the next week and we'll be able to go through it fairly quickly and move on into the parable of the wise, of the ten virgins, of the wise virgins. Christ condemned Israel, prophesied the destruction of Israel, we've seen that. The central message, however, is not the return of Christ, but it is the necessity of a righteous covering going back to Matthew 22. And it's that knowledge that the wise virgins we see will have. With the Lord willing, in our next study, we will look at that parable. But until then, may the light of providence direct all your paths and may the hand of providence supply all your needs.