Very appropriately, we've had a number of hymns this evening that remind us of our hope of heaven and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is what we have been studying in Matthew chapter 24. As the Lord Jesus 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? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed, that no man deceive you. 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 nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, 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. 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 avile the love of many, that shall endure unto 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. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place, which is on the housetop, not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field turn back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, O here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, There will the eagles be gathered together. Let us pray. Once again, O Lord, our Heavenly Father, we come and ask that Thou will teach us. We thank Thee for Christ, who is our prophet, the Holy Spirit, who has the ministry of teaching. We pray that we may be humbled and open to Thy teaching and the understanding of Thy word. We have before us difficult passages once again. We pray, Lord, that we may not be confused concerning things which Christ has said so clearly. We pray that we may not be dogmatic about those things which are unclear. We ask that we may have that wisdom and discernment. We pray that we may be blessed in the knowledge of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we also may be ready. Hear our prayer. Attend unto the preaching of thy word. Well, the congregation, we remember that as the Lord gives us these words, he is speaking essentially to his 12 disciples, a very small group. And he is speaking to them more directly in a certain way than he's speaking to us. In other words, there's a historical setting. At the temple, the stones are big and immense and very striking, impressive. And when he says that there's not going to be one stone left upon another, he is speaking. Yet, He is not only talking to those disciples because these words have been preserved in the Proverbs of the Lord for us today and for our instruction. And so we look back and we can see historically these things, some of them have already happened. And yet, in the same way that happened often in the Old Testament, you would have events concerning the first coming of the Lord, His Advent, and the second coming And often those prophecies appear fairly close together. So they were not always distinguishable very readily. And here we've seen again that there are things that some of these verses, we look at them and we say, well, they couldn't possibly have already happened. They clearly refer to the time at which a war will come. and descend in the clouds of power and great glory. That is reserved to that time, and yet the Lord speaks of other events. And he says that they should be ready for that destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. when all of the sacrificial ceremonial law was set aside because it had been declared fulfilled. And so now, We have other of these events which are very pertinent to our present day. And every time we hear about an earthquake, even if it's down in Bolivia or Chile or California is far enough away too and various places of the world, we hear about earthquakes. Is it true that often when you hear, you wake up and there's an earthquake in such and such a place? We should right away think, the Lord's day is at hand, the Lord is at hand, and am I ready? Am I ready for the Lord's return? It may be today, it may be many years hence, and so we listen to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as applying to us. coming of the Lord. So he warns us here, first of all, of false Christs, false prophets, false messiahs. Remember the word Christ, the name Christ is the same as the name Messiah. And so, beware when they direct you, he says, to a physical location. There's lots of room for everybody. Or in the secret chamber, we're having a secret meeting. The Lord Jesus is gonna be there. And Jesus says, no, beware when you hear those calls, when you hear those announcements. That is not the way that I'm going to come. I'm not going to come in a gradual, I'm not gonna have time. It's not gonna be gradual, it's not gonna be announcement in the bulletin that's gonna happen next week or Even though, he says in verse 24, even though they shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect. And when we think of signs and wonders, we should think also of the Lord's admonition through the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 9. Speaking there of the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power. like the Lord Jesus Christ, and like His coming. He tries to duplicate. But what He does is He tries to sensationalize everything. And He's gonna be seated in the place that belongs to God alone. He's gonna receive the worship of men, and it's going to be very, very subtle. We need to be aware. So we have to be careful of the doctrine that says, once saved, always saved. You pray a prayer, you know, to receive the Lord Jesus. Now don't worry about your spiritual life, just go on, because when Jesus comes, he's going to gather you up. And that's not what the Bible teaches at all. When I hear these words, I am reminded of a movement in the 70s, 1970s and 80s and into the 90s. I guess it's still going today. In the 70s, I think Peter C. Wagner, out of Fuller Seminary, wrote a book called The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit. And so the first wave was in 1906. Azusa Street, the beginning of the Pentecostal movement. People were speaking in tongues, all kinds of erratic worship, very strange, and they called it the moving of the spirit. The second wave came in the 1960s. Some of you may remember the people, the Jesus people movement. all these things seem to be outside of the church. And so then the third wave was what came to be known as the Vineyard Movement. And the Vineyard Movement was begun by John Well, we call ourselves prophets because this is the New Testament. We're in an ancient grace. In the Old Testament, you had to be 100% accurate. We read about that in Deuteronomy 13. 100% accurate, or you'd be stoned. Where do we get that idea in the New Testament that you can just kind of make up how accurate you're going to be in your prophecies? Many, many people were led astray by that movement called the Vineyard Movement, even now here in Edmonton we have a Vineyard Church. exciting, exciting music. We're going to have miracles. We're going to have great wonders coming. And this is what we call power evangelism. And so John White from, at that time, the University of Manitoba wrote a book called When the Spirit Comes with Power, which was a defense of that movement. So this is revival, he said. So it was It was a time of, really, of ingrained deceit. And as I said, that movement really is still continuing. And it hasn't come out to be what it wanted to be, what it was hoping to be. And it is a very grievous thing for my wife and myself. We have friends that were caught up in that movement. And it's very sad to see them involved in things like that. I mean, it's exciting. And things happen. But is it the gospel? Does it contain the gospel, as we studied this morning? The gospel is secondary, because we're doing signs and wonders. We're being sensational. We're going to attract people with the sensationalism. So it's interesting, then, that they would call it power evangelism. They would call it the Signs and Wonders Movement, even though 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 9 says that the Antichrist coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. So, just fear for people who are involved in these things. They're very enthusiastic, they're zealous, but not according to knowledge. And these things become a distraction from the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, rather than promoting the right anticipation of His return. And the Church must always anticipate and be ready, both individually and corporately, for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw some time ago, as we looked in Matthew 16 verse 4, the Lord Jesus says, a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. And they're looking, the Pharisees are looking for signs. You're gonna have only one sign, the sign of Jonah. And it is a wicked thing. and have it in their heart to desire science. They are the ones that are going to be easily led astray. Those who are weak in the faith are attracted by those things. And beloved, we live in a day when our Christianity is very weak. It's very superficial. There's no depth to it. And we ought to promote, sound off, a genuine study and knowledge of God's Word and awareness of the Word more than an awareness of the times. A lot of people begin with an awareness of the times and unable to see what God's Word says rather than being aware of what God's Word says and then being aware of the times. But the Lord says, blessed are you who believe, who have not seen. Peter writes for those who love the Lord, whom not having seen, ye love. You haven't seen. We've never said see the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter establishes that. Now, no one has seen the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you love him? How can you love somebody you haven't seen? Well, you can because you know about him. You can't love without knowledge. You have to know who you love. And when you know about the Lord Jesus Christ, your heart should be moved to love him. So if you're not diligent in the study of God's word, beloved, you are going, you're not going to be discerning. So we talked about discernment this morning. If you're not faithful in peaceful times, you're likely to fall away in deceitful times. dogmatic. I was reading two books this week by J.C. Ryle and by Horatius Bonar, and both of them say, you know, I'm going to lay out my position here. I don't want to be contentious. I'm not writing these things to be argumentative. I'm just going to lay out what I believe concerning the second coming of the Lord Jesus. your election, insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." End of verse 24. It's not possible, but your election is secured by your growth in grace. Your election is secured by your increased love of the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? in the church, by being actively involved in your sanctification, your holiness, your progression in holiness. That sets you aside as one upon whom the Holy Spirit is working. So it's a fearful thing to say, I'm elect, as if Christ had nothing to do with your election. Are you saved? Are you saved by the blood of Christ? Do you belong to Christ? Are you His? Does He own you? Has He purchased you? Has He shed His blood for you on the cross of Calvary? Is that personal? Tense like intimate. And that's where the love comes in. Because of all that Christ has done, how can you not love and serve such a wonderful master? So it's not our election, but if you have a wrong focus, Jesus says, be careful that you're not deceived. Well, you're elect. You're 12 apostles. I know one of you is out. Well, they didn't worry about them because worrying is sin, but they suffered, didn't they? The apostles suffered for the sake of the gospel. They believed strongly that Jesus was their Savior. Calvin says this was added to this verse about if it were possible they shall receive the very elect. This was added for the purpose of exciting alarm that believers may be more careful to be on their guard If we just accept everyone and everything that comes by and reject nothing, then we're not rooted and grounded in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. God, in fact, has ordained the preaching of the Word for salvation, not signs and wonders. He's ordained the preaching of the Word. How are people saved? Paul tells us in Romans 10, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? You need to believe. You're going to believe through the Word. The Word's going to come to you through a preacher. That's the ordinary means of grace. And we attend upon the means of grace because God has ordered that for your Do you think that's so that the intention isn't directed to the preacher so much as the work of the Spirit? Do you believe sometimes the worship service and you just have this feeling of God? and your mind is filled with the beauties of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you know it was just an ordinary thing. We just had preaching. We just had singing. We just had praying like we do every other Lord's Day, every other Sunday morning, every other Sunday evening. But the Lord was present with us in a remarkable way. And we really want that every single week. But have you felt that more? is to have the blessing of the Lord just descend upon us so that we feel brought in a wonderful way to the Lord Jesus Christ. So again, we ought to be satisfied with ordinary means, but we ought always to desire an And where is he mighty? He's especially mighty to save. He's especially mighty to overrule a rebellious heart. When he takes hold of you, and when you say, I don't want anything to do with God, I have nothing to do with Christ. And the Lord turns that heart around so that he not only loves Christ, but he sings about him and can't stop talking about him. God has done that work. we ought to love just the ordinary preaching, but we ought to pray, pray for the Lord's work, pray for the Lord's presence, because that's the focus of our worship. So dreams and visions, the others spoken of in Acts 2, Peter says these things are the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy in Joel chapter 2. We're not looking for dreams and visions, those things happen on the day of Pentecost, it's done. It's a mighty word. It's a living word. It's a powerful word. It's sharper than an intelligent sword. It divides asunder and exposes sin and brings you to saving faith. So here is the dramatic change when someone is born again by the work of the Holy Spirit. It's not preaching that saves. It's not the preacher that saves. It's not arguing that saves. It's not persuasion that saves. And so Christ's word regarding these false Christs, believe it not. When you hear these words, believe it not. Verse 23, if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. It says in verse 26, wherefore if they shall say unto you, behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. And this, beloved, requires discernment. What should we believe? What should we not believe? We believe God's Word. God has spoken. Therefore, we speak. Therefore, we believe. God has spoken. So this is the pillar and ground of the truth. Really, the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. The church believes God's Word, teaches of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the coming of the Son of Man shall be like lightning. Verse 27. But the world is round, and everyone in the world is going to know that Jesus has returned. And I don't know how he's going to accomplish that. I don't know if all of the population is going to be on one half of the earth, but Jesus says it's going to be sudden, and it's going to be planned. will look like lightning, but it's going to be sudden as lightning. It's going to be as broad and as wide as lightning. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes, everyone will know. Everyone will know. It's going to be a huge surprise. And we're not going to says that the gospel is going to be spread as far as the east is from the west, and it's going to cover the whole world. John Calvin says something similar. So they seem to spiritualize that aspect. But the word coming here is the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the predominant meaning of that word parousia. I think you've heard that word before, the coming of the Lord Jesus. And so one of my, I think, best explanations of this, not only the coming, but the other verse here, verse 28, for wheresoever the carcass is, peoples be gathered together." And it was a very curious verse, and I'm not going to pretend to have an accurate explanation of this, but it appears that generally the commentators that you and I would love and ordinarily follow The gospel to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the body, and the same way that vultures can spy a carcass from way up high and come swooping down and take the kill. In the same way, they say Christ is the body to which Christians will be attracted, will be drawn by the work of the Holy Spirit. And it may be, I'm going to say it's a valid view, I wouldn't say that these are ungodly, or certainly they're more knowledgeable than I am. But I found a little more steadily the view of William Hendrickson in his commentary on Matthew. Hendrickson says, when morally fits in a little bit better with the imagery of the carcass. But again, I think it's foolish to be dogmatic about this. It's good to have an explanation. It's not wise to be dogmatic about that explanation. But isn't that the way? Do you understand the coming of the Lord Jesus in that way? That everything, there are people who believe it's going to get better and better. And people are going to be careless about their souls, careless about Christ's soul. policies, and you look at that and say, how can that make sense to you? But they look at that, and it's completely sensible to them. When you have a mind of Christ, and you think logically and properly, you just say, that's not going to work. It's not going to work because it's not right. And so even in the Christian life, there are a lot of things that look like they're not going to work. images, I just want you to worship me spiritually in spirit and in truth. That's when the church is done, says the Lord Jesus. So these again, beloved, are things to keep in mind as we look forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you ready? Are you ready for the Lord to come back again? Be ready for His return right now, before the day is dead. Beloved, are you studying God's Word so as not to be deceived? Oh, I'm going to repeat again. You can't know all these things, exactly what they mean. There's so much disagreement. who just can't see these things differently. And don't, on the one hand, say, they have, those smart guys have not figured it out. Those spiritual giants haven't figured it out. Why should I bother? The fact is that Christ wants you to be aware, even though you don't understand everything. Your awareness is going to help you when you see these things unfold. return of the Lord Jesus, and often they just don't have a good understanding of salvation. They don't have a good understanding of how they're to grow in the Christian life and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. And because they've abandoned all those things for the hope of, oh, I'm going to be ready when Jesus returns. And in many ways, they will not be ready. Those are often the people who will be deceived. Lastly, do you Believe, beloved, that there will be and that there are now false prophets and false christs in the world. They are, and they need to be denounced. You need to be warned against them. You need to understand that as kind and gentle and maybe even as attractive as they may be, they may have very charismatic personalities, just broad and proud, and just so pleasant to hear. Be careful of those who want to, who are appointed really to tickle the ears of people who want their ears to be tickled. And it's more entertainment than worship, more entertainment than repentance. And it was, how can you speak against that person? I'm not speaking even so much about his life or his lifestyle. I'm preaching first. You always look first at his doctrine. Always look first at his doctrine. Because immorally, he could still be a Christian who's going to repent. So that in itself doesn't make somebody a false prophet. He didn't start with God's Word. The kind of gathering some of these people have in South America and various places in the world. And as being true in the past, they're existing today. They pass themselves off as being the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, beloved, even though love believes all things, it doesn't believe everything that it's told. It's not uncallable. That's not what 1 Corinthians 13 means. It's not uncallable. So you compare everything to the Word of God. Just because they quote a dozen or two dozen Bible verses does not make them a godly preacher, a godly minister. And that could be the very mark of their deception, that they're abusing God's Word. The Apostle Paul was offended when the bereaved Christians went home and looked up everything that he taught to see if it was true. I think Paul actually promoted that. It's a good thing. I'm not standing by myself. I'm not standing on my own authority. that liberty with the help of the Holy Spirit. That's again what Christian fellowship is for, to keep us rooted and grounded in the truth of God's word, rooted and grounded in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. thy love, that we are preserved in thy truth. And only by thy Holy Spirit that thy truth is important to our souls, that we should know who our Savior is and what He and He alone has done to secure the salvation of our souls. How blessed we are to receive so wonderful a gift by so mighty a hand Thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast done that mighty work of turning our wills from opposing Thee to loving and adoring and worshiping Thee and studying Thy Word. Open unto us the delights of Thy Word and make us diligent and faithful students of Thy Word. Pray that we may seek Thee in prayer Seeking after signs and wonders, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.