All right, Matthew chapter 23. We'll finish the chapter here this morning. There's only four verses left, so surely. Matthew chapter 23. So we've been looking at, throughout this chapter and the past couple chapters, Jesus Christ is in the temple, okay? So he's in the temple, he's speaking with the religious leaders there. And so for context, if you're unfamiliar, maybe you missed out on a few lessons, this is during crucifixion week. And I believe that based on context, we're probably in Tuesday of crucifixion week, knowing that he gets crucified on Wednesday and resurrected on Sunday. So this is, we're probably less than 24 hours or about 24 hours out from his death on the cross. So he's in the temple. We saw in, I think it was chapter, yeah, chapter 21, he gets the triumphal entry there where he's brought in, he's welcomed in by the multitude. They actually welcome him in as the son of David, as the Messiah. So what is he talking about here when he gets to these Pharisees and say, look, you're rejecting him, you're rejecting me and all that. It's the religious leaders, the ones, the priests, the scribes, the ones who are supposed to be leading and guiding the nation of Israel spiritually, They're the ones that are refusing to acknowledge Christ as the Messiah, as the Christ. And we'll see it here at the end of chapter 23 here, but he talks about, in verse 39, he says, you'll not see me henceforth till you shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And if you remember, chapter 21, that's exactly, those are the words that the multitude said to Jesus as he entered into Jerusalem. They said, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. So we're going to look at all that and see what exactly he's referring to and what he's talking about here, but the emphasis is on the religious leaders. So in the Old Testament economy, Old Testament setup there for salvation and righteousness and that kind of stuff, there was a lot of emphasis placed on the rulers of Israel. The kings, the priests, the prophets even, a lot of emphasis put on them. They were responsible from a national standpoint for the spiritual status and well-being of the nation of Israel, of the children of Israel there. Of course, we know now he deals with individuals. It's why everything is vastly different nowadays and today than it was prior to Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. That's why there's so much emphasis placed on these religious leaders here. Otherwise today you'd have folks that reject, even pastors of certain denominations, they'll reject, really, they'll reject Christ for who he is and they'll try to explain away all this stuff and you've got these different religions with Buddha and Muhammad and all them. They don't believe that Jesus is the Christ. They don't believe he's the Son of God. They believe that he's some sort of a created being. He's a good person, but he's not God himself. And so God can deal with them the same way, but he doesn't put emphasis on getting the message across to those people, because it's based on individuals at this point. So let's open up in our text verse 36 Matthew 23 verse 36 Jesus says verily I say unto you all these things Shall come upon this generation all these things the things that Jesus that we just read about for the rest of the chapter all the woes the the being abased in verse 12 the the greater damnation the all the the bloodshed and all that and Let's open up in prayer this morning. Father God, we just love you and we're so very thankful again for the opportunity we have each and every week to just come together and open up your word, Lord, and just allow you to teach us something and show us something. Father, I pray that you'd get myself out of the way, Lord. Just give me the right words to say. Lord, I don't want this to be my understanding being brought forth, Lord, but rather your words and your teaching, Lord. I pray that you just speak through me and allow your word to be understood by your people here this morning. Lord, I ask that you just open up our hearts. and speak to us here today, Lord. God, we love you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so back in verse 36, again he says, all these things shall come upon this generation. If you look real quick back at verse 12, verse 12 he says, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. There's gonna be an action on the Lord's part that takes place on these people, on the nation of Israel, on these religious leaders. If you don't, we studied it out when we went over verse 12, but if you don't humble yourself, The Lord may just have to step in there and do the abasing for you. The end result is the same. You are put low and he is raised up high. But it's all about who does the action. Are you going to humble yourself? Are these religious leaders going to humble themselves and submit to Jesus Christ? Or is he going to have to come in and do the abasing? He's going to have to come in and put them down. And we see throughout history, the past 2,000 years, the nation of Israel, the Jews there have been, they have been abased. As a matter of fact, the Lord has turned away from them and he's blinded them in part and turned to the Gentiles. So that in and of itself is, I mean, they were for thousands of years before that, they were God's chosen people. I mean, that's a pretty, that's a high status position there. When God comes out and just says, look, think about whenever they got brought out of Egypt. Egypt at the time was the world power. They were the entity that no one could mess with. They had the power. They had the military might. They had the economy. They had the commerce. They controlled the known world at that time. And God comes in there and says, you're nothing. I'm going to take my people out, and I'm going to set them up. they're going to be set up on high. And the kingdom of Israel gets set up, and you've got King Solomon there, and the Queen of Sheba comes out and says, I'm going to look into this man to see. I've heard a bunch of good stuff. It's almost like a legend. I've heard of you, Solomon, of your wisdom, and your knowledge, and your power, and your wealth. But I want to see for myself if these things are so, if this is accurate. So she shows up. The Queen of Sheba shows up. And when she's done visiting with Solomon and asking him the hard questions, she walks away from that thing. And the Bible says that she's It was confirmed to her that everything she had heard was in fact true. So God sets up his people. God chose his people and said, you're going to be set apart. You're going to be something different. You're going to be the light in the world that shines out and reflects my glory. And so the Lord says, fine, you're going to reject me as the Messiah, as your Christ. I'm going to abase you myself. And now, where are they? Up until mid 1900s, they didn't even have a place that the Jews could call home. They didn't. They were scattered throughout the heathen nations throughout all the world for almost 2,000 years. And now they have a place they can call physically home, but there's still a spiritual disconnect there, even today. Spiritual disconnect between them and God. So Lord says that all these things, including that being abased, are gonna come upon this generation. This generation physically, literally, you can apply that directly to 70 AD when the Roman Empire came in there and Titus and Nero came in there and they overthrew Israel and they destroyed Jerusalem. From that point on, the Israelites did not have a place that they could call home until early, mid 1900s. They were just all throughout the world. There's no more pride, no more power that the Israelites had. And also we looked at verse 33, how Christ talks about, he says, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? There's a greater damnation that these guys are gonna be succumbed to, they have to submit to, because they are turning the hearts of the people away from God, is what they're doing. And that's the responsibility that God puts on them. As a matter of fact, also in verse 35, he talks about the bloodshed. He says that all the righteous blood that shed from Abel all the way to Zacharias, all the bloodshed of the righteous folks in all the Old Testament. Remember, we studied that out as well. All of that, he says, he's putting it on you, those religious leaders. They are responsible for every bit of it. That's part of that greater damnation, that responsibility, the guilt of that bloodshed. He says all these things are going to come to pass and come upon this generation. So verse 37 says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Now you can almost see an emotional shift here in Jesus Christ's tone. So up until this point throughout this chapter, Jesus has been very, very angry, very almost aggressive, loud and boisterous, roaring at these people, trying to get their attention. And now he kind of takes a step back and you can almost see that emotional shift. It's like almost a mournful and like a pity kind of approach here. Look at all the Old Testament. How many times did He bring them out of captivity? Brings them back, they turn to God, oh, things are wonderful. Then they quickly reject Him again and turn against Him and go back to the heathen gods. And He lets them fall into judgment and captivity yet again. And then He gathers them again together. That happened time and time and time and time again throughout the Old Testament. So Jesus says, how often would I have gathered thy children together? And at the end there it says, and ye would not. Now a quick little side, now this statement right here, this verse alone blows Calvinism out of the water. It blows it completely to Timbuktu. It can't exist. There is no irresistible grace, there is no, the will of man has, they teach that the will of man has no power over the will of God. Well Jesus here says, how often would I, that's will, that's would, it's a different form of the word will. How often would I have gathered thy children together And ye would not. Ye chose not to. Your will was stronger than God's will, he says. Your will is stronger than the Father's will. And he says that they would not. He says he would have gathered them together, would have kept doing it, would have kept bringing them back home. They didn't want it. They didn't want it at all. Jesus would have saved them had they been willing. And like I talked about, you see, like I said, the emotional shift here. He even starts going into a physical illustration here. He says, think about a mother hen, a mother hen that gathers her chickens time and time and time again. We're actually going to look at it later on this morning as well, but a hen gathers her chickens for many, many reasons, but they all boil down to probably three, maybe four main reasons. And I don't want to spoil it, that's actually going to be what the main service is on, but they gather their chickens for things like safety time and time again. That mother hen will put her life on the line to save and protect her baby chicks. She'll call onto them when there's a predator coming, maybe there's a raccoon or a cat or a coyote that's gotten in the run there and it's heading towards the chickens. You hear those chickens start squawking and screaming. The mother hens, they're calling to their chicks, to their baby chickens, said, get over here. Come to me. Come to safety. There's something not right here. Something is not right out in the world that you're in. You've got to come back. And she gathers them together. So Jesus says there's a devil out there. There's a devil out there that's continually trying to find you and to get you snared and to get you caught and get you captured and to kill you. And he wants to devour you. He wants to eat you like a roaring lion, he says. Also calls him a wolf in different places. The devil is there and he's trying to get these people away from God. And so Jesus Christ continually says throughout the Old Testament, even now, he says he's trying to gather them together underneath the protection of his wings, trying to pull them in. He would have saved them had they been willing, but they were the ones that rejected. He says there at the end of verse 37, ye would not. But Jesus continued to give them chances. As a matter of fact, he prays the Father forgives them while he's hanging on the cross. He continues, he preaches to them and preaches to them and preaches to them and trying to get ahold of their heart and say, you might think you're doing the law properly. You might think you've got righteousness, but that's not what he's looking for. He's looking for that relationship. He's looking for their heart, not the physical outward showing. So even after he's scourged and he's beaten and he's unrecognizable to any man, they hang him on the cross to die. What does he say? He says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He continually is looking for a way that he can just get a hold of the heart of his people. And those they just they continue to reject. So while he's hanging on the cross, the first seven chapters of Acts are just preaching after preaching. You've got the apostles there all the way up to Stephen, where they're continually just trying to show the nation of Israel, the religious leaders, where they fell short and how they are responsible for all that righteous blood, including the innocent blood of Jesus Christ. But it continues to show opportunities for them to accept Jesus as their Messiah. Of course, we know if you study that out, we know here how that turned out. Acts chapter 7, they stoned Stephen. They finally stopped their ears and they started gnashing with their teeth and yelling and said, I don't want to hear it. I don't agree with it. I don't believe it. I don't want to hear it. They don't want that responsibility. And so God says, fine, I'll abase you. If you're not going to humble yourself, I'll abase you. And I'll turn away from the Jews and turn to the Gentiles. And that's where we have the church age come in. They rejected that final kingdom offer. No matter what Christ was willing to do for them, they still chose, and that's the key here in this verse, they still chose to reject and refused to accept Him. And this is where Calvinism falls apart. Luckily, we don't have to deal with that here, but I was actually talking to Talking to my parents a few, probably several months ago now, and I didn't realize that the church we were in when I was growing up, when I was in high school, when I was a teenager, one of the guys, one of the older gentlemen that I respected, apparently himself was Calvinism. And what surprised me was that the pastor didn't stop it in its tracks. Folks, there's certain things that it's okay to teach and you don't know 100% about. There's certain things in the Bible that's like, I don't know this way or that. But as long as it doesn't go against key, known, established doctrines, especially doctrines of salvation and eternal security, Things that go against that stuff, the Bible calls heresy. And those heresies are supposed to be shut up. This isn't a study on that, it's a little tangent here, but if someone is teaching heresy and you know from scripture that it is no kidding, it goes against the doctrines that are established for you and I today. It goes against those blatantly and outright, you are to shut up the heretic. So you're supposed to show them, I think, two, maybe three times, and after that, if they don't hear you, then you turn your back on them. Don't even waste your time trying to convince them anymore. They've got their heart set up on that thing. Their heart is stiffened and hardened to it, but you're not supposed to allow it in the church because it's going to, for the younger Christians, and this isn't a slant against folks that are less familiar with their Bible, there are different levels. Pastors taught on this before, the different ages of a Christian. There are some folks that are more susceptible in a church. There are some folks in a local church that are more susceptible to being swayed and blown about by every wind of doctrine. So you've got to help those folks out. The older, more experienced, more mature Christians have to help those folks out by seeing and identifying these heresies that come in and completely reject them, completely keep it out. It's got to be based on the Bible, though, and it can't just be based on, oh, this goes against how we've ever taught it. If it's in the Bible, and it's rightly divided, and it's rightly applied to you and your dispensation where you are, and it's in context, then there's nothing wrong with it. It's like we almost all but got kicked out of one of our previous churches because we started looking at, and I was talking to the pastor about the gap theory and the gap fact. Folks, that has nothing to do with you and I's salvation today. It has nothing to do with your eternal security. That would not be considered a heresy, whether you believe in the gap between Genesis 1, 1 and 1, 2 or not. That's not something that you would break fellowship over. That's something that, oh wow, that's interesting. Let's study it out. There's things in the Bible I didn't realize. Let's look into those things. Maybe you don't get convinced, maybe you do. At that point, that's one of those things where it's okay to have differing opinions. The Bible isn't explicitly clear on those things. You've got to do a lot of digging for it. But something when it comes to your salvation or losing the Holy Spirit or not, or just the spiritual circumcision, all those things that go into it. Salvation is by grace through faith and not work, so it has nothing to do with your water baptism or your sprinkling when you were an infant. It has nothing to do with that. Then teach it. But the second that it starts going against salvation-type doctrines, you've got to protect the flock against that. You've got to protect the church against that. Anyways, all right. So that's Calvinism. Calvinism is one of those things because it takes the responsibility from the individual to accept Jesus Christ, accept that free gift. That's kind of where, let's bring it all back here. That's where that was really kind of getting at, is Calvinism is one of those heresies, and it's essential. We need to be able to identify it and teach against it, because the Bible clearly teaches against it, yet there's still many out there that will teach outright that you have no say in your salvation. God chose you to be saved, and he chose that person not to be saved before the foundations of the earth, and it doesn't matter what you do, if you're meant to be saved, it will happen. That complete heresy goes 100% against the Bible. All right, verse 38. It says, behold, your house is left unto you desolate. Now, this house could be two different things. It could be referring to the house of Israel, or it could be referring specifically and uniquely to the temple that he is in right there. If you notice, he talks about in chapter 21, when Jesus enters the temple, he says, my house, It's to be a house of prayer and you've turned it into a den of thieves." So he says, my house. Here he says, your house. So throughout all this tirade, he knows their heart. They've continued to not accept and not to heed to his calling here. And there's been a shift. No longer is this my house. Now it's your house. You've turned it into a den of thieves. You've turned it into this place. I don't even want to be here. And if you jump forward to chapter 24 and verse 1, Jesus went out and departed from the temple. He said, this is your house now. This isn't my house. I'm out. I'm done. So Jesus enters. If you're interested, that's Matthew 21, verse 13, where Jesus enters the temple and he calls it my house. And then here in verse 38, he says, behold, your house is left unto you desolate. Now the house of God, the house of God is called Bethel. Bethel literally means house of God. The house of God in the Old Testament is only the house of God so long as God is in it, okay? So there's a reason why the gentleman here, we meet about a quarter till every Sunday service about 9.45 and we meet to invite the Lord in. It's not a gimme. It's not a gimme. Just because we're a church, just because we're having services, just because we open up the scriptures, there's no guarantee that the Lord is gonna be in this thing. So we need to invite him in. We all need to do our own praying and our own reading and invite the Lord into our heart as far as, not as far as your salvation, but as far as his involvement in your life that day. Was it in Revelation? Go ahead and turn to Revelation chapter three. Very familiar passage here with the church of Laodicea. But Revelation chapter three, Of course, we know that the Laodicean church, that's a type of where we are, spiritually speaking, today in the church age. We're in the Laodicean church age. In verse 14, chapter 3, verse 14, he says unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, right? Jump down to verse 20. Behold, it's Jesus talking, I stand at the door of the church. Knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me There's no guarantee folks that Christ is in the church already Just because the doors opened up just because we're gathering here. He does not have to enter in He says here at this church of Laodiceans that he's standing outside and he's knocking on the door and he's saying, will you let me in? Will you let me be a part of your service? Will you let me in and hear the songs that you're singing in my name and to me? Will you let me in and allow me to work through the preaching and the teaching and through the songs and get into your heart and do some convicting and to do some work there? Will you let me in or are you gonna keep me on the outside? Are you worried more about the people that come in? Are you worried more about the money that comes into the church? Are you worried more about conforming to the world's systems and accepting of everybody? Or are you just going to be focused on accepting me and do what I have to say and do what I have for you? It's all going to be better anyways for it. So there's, like I said, there's a reason we gather and we meet and we don't ever want to take for granted here in this church that Jesus is just a part of it. There's no guarantee. There's no reason that Jesus has to be a part of this work unless we want him here first and foremost. He wants to be in it, but we have to invite him in. We have to let him in. So Jesus says that your house, that temple, your temple is to be desolate. Look over in Amos chapter 5. Amos chapter 5. I said that the house of God is only the house of God if God is in it. Otherwise it's just a building. It's just a temple. Amos chapter 5. Look at verse 4. Amos 5 and verse 4 says, For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live. But seek not Bethel, the house of God. Seek not that place that was called the house of God, because God was there. Remember that story from Genesis. Nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba. For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought. I know Bethel is a physical place. It's a city at this point. It's a town. But you see the picture there, the house of God shall come to naught. Bethel shall come to naught. Because why? Verse 6, seek the Lord and ye shall live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it and there be none to quench it in Bethel. Seek the Lord. Don't seek the building. Don't seek building projects. Don't seek a bigger, better, beautiful, more ornate structure. Don't seek those things. Don't seek the physical side of things. The Bible says to set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth. The Lord doesn't want us to look for those things. He wants us to look for Him and to seek Him out. Seek God, not just the church. Seek the Lord, not your next pay raise or promotion. Those are fine. Those are good. The Lord can use those things and bless those things, but when your attention and focus gets placed on those physical things and gets distracted from God and from the Lord and from seeking Him, That's when he steps out. That's when he departs the temple. That's when he departs. If you're saved here today, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. That's when he can depart that temple. Not spiritually, not in terms of your salvation, but in terms of your fellowship and your relationship. He does not have to just be a part of every wicked thing that you drag him into just because the Holy Spirit's in you. He doesn't have to be a part of it. You will sever that tie, that fellowship and that relationship there. stay in Amos chapter 7 and look at verse 10. It says, The priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there. Look at verse 13. But prophesy not again any more at Bethel, for it is the king's chapel. It's no longer the house of the Lord. This is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court. They're trying to kick out the preacher, trying to kick out the prophet here, Amos, and say, we don't want this negativity. We don't want what you're preaching about judgment, and we just want to hear smooth things. We want to hear good things. So you go away. You go preach over there by yourself, out in the wilderness, or maybe on the street corner. That's fine. You stay over there. Leave the king's chapel. They acknowledge right there that Bethel, the house of God, is no longer the house of God. They don't want it to be anymore. So the house of God is only the house of God so long as he's in it. Seek his words, not education. Seek the Lord, not the church. We talked about the Laodicean church age, but again, the Laodicean church is found in Revelation there with Jesus Christ on the outside asking to be let inside. So our church invites him in every Sunday and it shouldn't be taken for granted. You should invite him in every day into your heart and into your life, into your daily walk. You should invite him in, allow him, ask him to help guide and direct your thoughts, your steps, give you wisdom to get through this life, to get through this wicked generation, this wicked world that we live in. We can't do it on our own. You're gonna succumb and you're gonna fall. And you're gonna fall to those temptations unless you've got his strength and him inside you and helping you through that. When God departs the temple, notice Jesus Christ says in verse 38, back in our text, he says, your house is left unto you desolate. Words mean things in the Bible, man. This is good stuff. When God departs the temple, it becomes desolate. Look over at Matthew chapter 24. At some point in the future, the religious leaders are going to set their own ruler in the temple. Notice the wording. You guys already probably know where I'm going with this. Matthew chapter 24, look at verse 15. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. The abomination of desolation, it's been made desolate. So there's a vacuum there and you got the Antichrist that's just being welcomed on in. He's the abomination that causes desolation. Look over in Daniel chapter 11. This is where the actual prophecy is that Christ is referenced there. Daniel chapter 11 verse 31. Daniel chapter 11. Verse 31 says, "...and arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and he shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." It's talking about the Antichrist, it's talking about Satan incarnate in the earth, on the earth. He's gonna sit himself in the temple and call himself, say that he is God. He's gonna sit there and he's gonna cause that place to become desolate. Christ says it all starts right here in Matthew chapter 23. It started right there when they kicked out God Almighty, God himself. He says, fine, you don't want it, you're gonna reject it, I'm walking away. Now verse 39, it says, for I say unto you, back in Matthew 23, it says, for I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. So your house, this temple, is going to become desolate until some point in the future. And that point in the future is contingent on them acknowledging something. them saying, Ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." So He needs these religious leaders, He needs these Jewish leaders, these Jewish religious folk to acknowledge Him as the Christ that He came as. To acknowledge Him as their Messiah, and as their King, and as their Savior. This doesn't happen until the second advent. But it's contingent on their timing when they get to the point and say, we need you back. We acknowledge you. We see who you really were when you came the first time. We need you back. Jesus is saying that they will never see him until the tribulation, when they will finally recognize him as their Messiah and plead for him to return, until they acknowledge him. they won't see him at all. Notice they won't, he says that you shall not see me henceforth. And what do we have today? We have Israel is blinded in part. They can't see him. Until they have an experience similar to Paul, Saul at the time, where it's as if scales get removed from his eyes. They can't see him. There's gotta be a change of heart before that. Paul doesn't get his vision back, his eyesight back, until he's acknowledged who Jesus was, who the Lord is, as Jesus Christ. Then he goes and he gets his eyesight back. There's got to be a change of heart before the Lord's going to come back and restore them. Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 21. Deuteronomy chapter 21 gives them an idea, really kind of gives them the way out. How can they? I mean, you think about it. The Jews today, none of them were there way back then, 2,000 years ago when Christ was crucified. They have innocent blood, Jesus says. All the righteous blood is going to be on you from that generation forth, that righteous blood. And they even say, this blood be upon us and upon our children and our children's children, and it goes on and on. The blood of the righteous, the blood of the innocent, Jesus Christ is on those Jews to this day. But there's something that they can do to get that righteous blood, to get that innocent blood taken care of and off of them and be forgiven of it. Deuteronomy chapter 21. This is the prophecy of the Red Heifer and all that kind of stuff. Don't put too much emphasis on the Red Heifer aspect of it. The Jews, even the Messianic Jews, and all them, maybe not the Messianic, but the Jews today will, they'll get all sidetracked about this Red Heifer kind of nonsense. The Red Heifer prophetically has already shown up, and that's Jesus Christ. That's the Red Heifer that has to get sacrificed. That's the Red Heifer that has, that's Jesus Christ. He already shed his blood for them, the innocent blood. but they have to accept it as their sacrifice, as their payment. Look at Deuteronomy 21, starting verse 1. Says, if one be found slain in the land, one, a person, if someone be found slain in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him, then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain. So there's just a dead guy out here. No one's fessing up. No one knows how he died. But they can tell he was slain. Notice he didn't just die of an accident. He didn't just die of old age. He was slain. So they've got all these cities round about, and they're literally measuring from him to the cities. And the city that's closest, that's what they're doing here. Verse three, and it shall be that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take in heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke. And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley. which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley. And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near. For them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the Lord. And by their words shall every controversy and every stroke be tried." And all the elders of that city that are next unto the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley. And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge, and the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. When will that blood be taken away from them? When thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord." The Lord needs these Jews. He needs them to come back and start just doing what's right, not in their sight, but in the sight of the Lord. So you're going to see, we know how the end plays out. You got the tribulation, time of Jacob's troubles. He's going to gather them back up. He's going to gather the Israelites back up to their place, to their land. The restoration. And that process there of changing their heart and all that and forgiving the nation there, it doesn't happen until first they acknowledge him for who he is. So you even think today, yeah, the nation of Israel is gathered back. They've got a land that they can call their own now. They've got a place ever since, what was it, 1948, something like that, when officially it became theirs. They've got this land. But that doesn't mean that the restoration has already happened. The restoration we know has not happened. They still reject Jesus Christ as their Messiah. They still to this day, as a nation, as a collective. And it's not going to be until they go to the Lord and say, we didn't shed this innocent blood. We did not shed the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. What do we got to do? And he says, you've got to start doing things right in my sight. So that's another key proof text there of why works are going to be brought back into the tribulation. They're going to get restored spiritually once they start doing some things. They start doing some things in the sight of God and doing what's right. So that passage right there in Deuteronomy teaches these religious elders, these Jewish elders, how they can remove the guilt of the innocent and righteous blood of Christ and the prophets from the Old Testament. And this is how they'll be able to see him again. And that doesn't happen until 2nd Adam. All right, we're gonna delve a little bit into chapter 24. Chapter 24 is gonna be fun. 24, 25, really up until they start going into the Last Supper there. The Olivet Discourse is what this chapter is known for, is what it's called. Chapter 24 is a tribulation chapter. There's some Church Age stuff in there, but it's heavy, heavy, heavy tribulation. And then 25 is Second Advent, you know, after the Tribulation, Judgment of the Nations, that kind of stuff is all in chapter 25 as well. So this is going to be exciting as we get into this, but today I think we're probably only going to be able to hit the first couple verses. So Matthew chapter 24, verse 1. It says, and Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, see ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Look over real quick to Mark, Mark chapter 13. I believe there's one person that asks him or shows him these buildings, one of his disciples. Mark 13, verse 1, so it's the same parallel passage here. It says, And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here. Who's the one that consistently calls Jesus Christ Master? Judas Iscariot. So you've got one disciple that Jesus, after likely listening to all of Jesus, what he's been saying to these religious leaders, who Judas we know is kind of chummy with, all these folks, Jesus just spent an entire chapter, who knows, hours maybe, just going on and on and on, getting at these guys. So Judas is likely trying to be like, calm him down. All right, Jesus, hey, everything's fine. But look at what these people have done in your name. Look at these beautiful buildings that they've done in God's name. They're trying to do the right thing, Jesus. It's all an outward show. And he just got done talking to them about how their exterior, their outside is as whited sepulchers, but on the inside, they're dead men's bones. He doesn't want to see the outside. He wants to see the inside. So he comes outside after seeing and examining the inside and departing from it. He comes outside and Judas is there and he says, but look, look at what we've accomplished, what our Jewish traditions and our religion has accomplished. you go to the poorest third world country that you can find, you'll find Catholicism there the vast majority of the time. And the most beautiful place in that entire country is going to be a Catholic cathedral, some sort of a Catholic building there. They didn't spare any expense with that thing. They could donate probably half that or the entire building and probably make up for the income of the entire country most of the time. Those little bitty third world countries, but there's the Catholic church right in the middle of it. They're all about the outward show. I mentioned a week or two ago, was it St. Peter's Cathedral there in Rome? Or wherever that is. The Basilica there, it's beautiful, folks. I mean, you as Bible-believing Christians could go to that place, visit that cathedral, and just be in awe and wonder at what people have done in the name of God. They do it and say, this is for God. This is for even Jesus. But God is not in it. He's standing on the outside knocking. He's not in that thing. He's not in the midst of it. So Jesus hears this thing and Judas is trying to show him the awe and wonder of the temple. Judas, we know, he was more interested in money anyways and the time and work that went into making the temple beautiful on the outside. Judas was the money bag guy. He was the treasurer there for Jesus' disciples. Look over in Hosea chapter eight. Almost done here this morning. Hosea. Chapter 8, verse 13. Hosea 8.13 says, They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it. But the Lord accepteth them not. Now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. They shall return to Egypt. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples. And Judah hath multiplied fenced cities, but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof." They've forgotten their Maker. It's all about the relationship. It's always been about the relationship since Adam and Eve were created. God wanted it about a relationship. He wanted fellowship with mankind. And mankind has done nothing but sever that fellowship and just added congestion. Remember last week we used the illustration of like a tunnel? It's just adding congestion to that tunnel. You can't see the light at the other side. You can't see God at the far side. That fellowship of that tunnel is constricted and it's blocked. Man has been doing that for 6,000 years now, ever since human history, ever since sin came in. But Jesus' response is three-dimensional. I like this in verse two. Jesus gives them a three-dimensional response. It says see ye not all these things verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another That shall not be thrown down It was previously fulfilled in Jeremiah 52 with Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar goes into Jerusalem overthrows the city takes them into captivity and he destroys the temple the temple's got to be Rebuilt it completely turns every stone It's a prophecy of the impending destruction of the temple in 70 AD, like we mentioned it before, but you can go to Israel right now and you can see these massive, huge stones that are right next to the temple mount area, right next to that hill there, and they're ginormous. They're tons and tons and tons of weight, literally tons, talking about weight there. They're so heavy, man could not have done it. God was involved with that destruction. We know obviously the man did it with Rome when they went in there in 70 AD, but that prophecy here that Jesus Christ is talking about was fulfilled in 70 AD when they went over there and every stone was turned over. There isn't one little bit, there's not one pillar that's left standing from the original temple of Jesus' day there. I mean, you can look at archaeological finds of ancient Greece and all these different places all throughout the Middle East and throughout even the land of Israel, and you can find remnants. They're buried and all that stuff, but you start digging the place up, you find, you know, pillars. Half the temple is still there, and there was war there, there was destruction, there was a fire, there was... not one stone was left unturned of that temple. That temple was flipped upside down. And then thirdly, it will be fulfilled again in the Tribulation. with the antichrist now history tells us of the roman this is the 70 a.d stuff history tells us of roman leadership in 70 a.d in an effort to avoid fulfilling this prophecy giving orders to avoid that part of the city altogether titus didn't want to go in there and say that he was responsible for fulfilling jesus christ prophecy here so he says don't don't mess with it stay away from it However, confusion in the delivery of the order resulted in the catastrophic destruction of that portion. Even when man and the devil try to change biblical prophecies, they can't touch it. They've got nothing to do with it. They've got no power over that thing. Jesus says something's going to happen. You better mark it down. It's going to happen. It's gonna happen exactly how he says it. All right, and then like I said, it's gonna happen again in the second advent, during the time of tribulation there with the Antichrist sitting there. First he's gonna set himself up as if he is God, then he's gonna turn his back on those Israelites, that nation there, and he's gonna destroy that temple yet again. All right, that's all we got here for this morning. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer, and then we'll be dismissed to the main service. Heavenly Father, Lord God, we just love you, Father, and I'm so very thankful for your word and your goodness to us, Lord, and looking forward to studying this part out, this next chapter or two, Father, and Lord, I ask that you just show us some stuff from your word, Father, maybe some things that we've never seen before or maybe some things that maybe just we never realized or knew, Father, and I ask that you just teach us, Lord. Don't have me mess things up, God. I ask that you just protect my mouth throughout this stuff and protect the studies and everything that goes into it, Father, and just bless the time. Lord, God, we love you. I pray you'd be with the rest of this morning, be with the singing, the preaching to come, Lord, and I pray that it would just be a sweet smell, Lord, and as we talked about, God, none of us in here want you standing outside of this church, Father, and ask that you'd come in with us here today, Lord, and worship and fellowship and just be pleased and honored by everything that we say and do here today. God, we love you, and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.