Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Mark, chapter 13,.
Verses 3 to 13 is kind of whatwe'll be looking at today.
And you know it's a shifting ofgears here in the book of Mark.
And you know it's a shifting ofgears here in the book of Mark.
It's the final week of Jesus'physical ministry, just days
from the cross.
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But time has slowed down andhe's faced off with the
religious leaders there inchapter 12.
If there was any doubt thatthey needed to get rid of him,
they had all they needed therein that discussion.
Matthew ramps it up even morein Matthew 23, in the specifics
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of this face-off.
But they're ready.
They're ready to get rid ofJesus.
Now he heads out of the templecourt after that face-off and he
exits the gates face off.
And he exits the gates Verseone as he went out the temple,
one of his disciples said to himteacher, see what manner of
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stones and what buildings arehere.
So as they go out, having justthrashed on the religious
authorities of the day, one ofhis disciples I think maybe
sheepishly says teacher, thoughis it all bad?
I mean, look at these stones ofthis temple, look at these
buildings.
It's got to be worth something.
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Verse two Jesus responds do yousee these great buildings.
Not one stone shall be leftupon another, that shall not be
thrown down.
So Jesus here prophesies whatwould happen less than 40 years
later this temple that they werelooking at, this huge wonder of
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the ancient world, would becompletely destroyed.
Now, as they continue to go outin verse 3, they go out the gate
, the eastern gate there of thecity of Jerusalem, and they
start to go down into the KidronValley.
If you can picture it, it'sreally great to be able to go up
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.
Me and Brian were just talkingabout how awesome it would be to
go to Israel and see it again.
But if you can picture it, yougo out that gate from the temple
, you go down some stairs andyou go down into a valley so the
Kidron Valley, picture that.
And you go up this incline,this slope.
It's the Mount of Olives.
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A lot happens on the Mount ofOlives.
It's the Mount of Olives.
A lot happens on the Mount ofOlives.
Jesus will pray with hisdisciples in the Garden of
Gethsemane that's there, on theslope of the Mount of Olives.
It's hill-sized, I'd say.
And Jesus had recently comedown off that Mount of Olives
down the road into the city aspeople yelled Hosanna, that
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happened.
But here now he goes out of thetemple and he's sitting
opposite on the hillside.
If you can picture it thetemple, the valley, the hillside
, the Mount of Olives.
He's sitting on the hillsidethere with his disciples.
And in verse three, as he sat onthe Mount of Olives opposite
the temple, peter, james, johnand Andrew ask Jesus a question,
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two questions, privately Tellus when will these things be and
what will be the sign whenthese things will be fulfilled?
So very personal questions here.
Two questions when will thesethings be and what will be the
signs when all these things willbe fulfilled?
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If you look in Matthew, chapter24, a little more detail there
a phrase is added and the end ofthe age, what will be the signs
of the end of the age?
Mark doesn't include that, butI think he assumes we understand
that's what Jesus is talkingabout and they're lumping it all
together.
When will this temple bedestroyed and what will be the
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end of the age?
When is the end coming, whenGod's kingdom is established on
earth?
Now questions are given and alittle disclaimer here.
If you're feeling a littlesleepy, a little disclaimer.
We're going to jump into somebrain benders today.
So if you don't feel like it,maybe go back and listen to it
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later, but do your best.
Brain benders and also adisclaimer.
What I teach today will go alittle bit against my instinct
as I look at the last days.
The Olivet Discourse is whatthis is called, vet discourse is
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what this is called.
My instinct is going to be toconsider what we looked at last
week the eminent return of Jesus, this idea that one day, very,
very soon it seems, jesus willcome for his church.
He'll take us to be with him.
Things will fall apart onplanet earth and we will be with
the Lord forever.
God will set up his kingdom onearth.
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That's the idea of eminentreturn, that anytime and we read
that here be ready, watch, youdon't know the day or the hour.
That's an important thing toremember.
That's an important principle.
The eminent return I think it'sactually the imminence with the
I Imminent return of Jesus isimportant and we live every day
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looking around, going.
It could happen today and I'dbe OK with that.
But there's another principlethat we see here, for lack of a
better word, it's continuance.
Right, big words.
I know Continuance.
It's this idea that we need toendure.
Notice verse 13.
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We read it all last week, butverse 13 ends with this phrase
he who endures to the end shallbe saved.
Endurance the word in the Greekis hupomone, right, just in
case you wanted to amaze yourfriends with that.
It means to just keep onkeeping on, to endure, to be
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patient the word is sometimesput in there, and so there's
this idea that, along withrealizing that Jesus could come
back and set all things righttoday, there's this other point
he might not.
We may have to endure for atime.
We may have to endure throughlife to continue to keep on,
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keeping on.
So both of these things arenecessary in the Christian life
Realizing that Jesus could comeat any day, necessary, looking
forward to it, but also enduringif he doesn't.
These are both important.
So some foundations to look at.
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Here is an idea here that we'relooking at what's known as the
near and far in end times.
Look at verse 13 again.
He says he who endures to theend shall be saved.
That word to the end, thatphrase to the end, it's the word
telos, and that'll be the lastGreek word I think I share with
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you today.
But telos, it's where we gettelescope from right.
So to the end, as far as youcan see, you take out your
telescope and you put it and youfocus it on something way out
there and Jesus says you'regonna have to endure to the end.
There's gonna be in thispassage an end that we're gonna
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look at more next week.
But there's also the near, andthat's really what we look at
today in verses like 3 to 13.
It's the near for the disciplesand we look at this near and
far.
This is biblical principle.
There's a near and far in god'smind and it comes down to who
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god is right.
Okay, again a lot of differentthoughts today, but but, but
it's who god is.
He's eternal.
We've talked about that, blessyou.
He's eternal.
Time is a little different forGod.
Check this out 2 Peter 3.8.
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Beloved, do not forget this onething that with the Lord, one
day is as a thousand years and athousand years is as one day
when we talk about God and time.
He's eternal and time is kindof insignificant for him.
We've talked about it before.
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He sees the beginning of timethere in the garden and he sees
the end of time where heestablishes a kingdom and
they're all right in front ofhim.
They're all solid.
He literally has all the timein the world.
From a movie that I love towatch Go check it out, anyways.
He literally has all the timein the world.
From a movie that I love towatch Go check it out, anyways.
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He literally has all the timein the world.
It doesn't matter, with God, hesees it all.
And so for us, we're not likethat.
We wait for things.
Some have been waiting forschool to get out and you look
at the clock and it's like tick,tock, tock, tick, tock, and the
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clock just goes so slow.
And we wait for it here in time, right.
When you go on a road trip,it's the are we there yet?
Right.
Time just doesn't go by fastenough.
When you're waiting for a babyto come, zach and Chelsea would
say Is it time?
Is it time?
Is it now?
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We wait for things.
But God doesn't have to wait.
He's eternal.
He's got all of time under hiscontrol, under his control, and
he sees it all.
So here, as we look at thisprophecy in Mark 13, we see
there's near and far, and a biggap in between Verses 3 through
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13 would be the near to thedisciples.
And Jesus is going to answerthese two questions that his
disciples give when will thesethings be and what will be the
sign of the fulfillment of allthings?
Right, that's basically theidea.
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When will these things be?
Well, now, we talked about it.
The destruction of the templewould happen in AD 70 and no
stone would be left upon another.
But we look at this passagehere.
We'll read it.
We realize the early church wentthrough a lot of trials, a lot
of tribulations, a lot oftribulations.
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Every single one of thedisciples.
They went through these kindsof things that we read about
here.
And for them Jesus says you'regonna have to learn endurance,
you're gonna have to learn toendure through great tribulation
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.
Notice what Jesus says in versefive.
Jesus answered them, began tosay take heed that no one
deceives you, for many will comein my name saying I am he or I
am and will deceive many.
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But when you hear of wars andrumors of wars, do not be
troubled, for such things musthappen, but the end is not yet,
for nation will rise againstnation and kingdom against
kingdom.
There will be earthquakes invarious places, there will be
famines and troubles.
These are the beginning ofsorrows or birth pains.
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But watch out for yourselves,for they will deliver you up to
councils and you will be beatenin the synagogues and you will
be brought before rulers andkings for my sake, for a
testimony to them.
And the gospel must be preached, the first preached, to all
nations.
But when they arrest you anddeliver you up, do not worry
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beforehand or premeditate whatyou will speak.
But whatever is given to you inthat hour, speak, for it will
not be you who speak, but theHoly Spirit.
Now, brother will betraybrother to death.
Father, his child, childrenwill rise against parents and
cause them to be put to death.
You will be hated by all for myname's sake.
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So Jesus warns his disciplesthere in verse 5, take heed,
beware, right, that's beware,beware of people who deceive.
And Jesus gives some differentideas of that.
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People will deceive and saythat they're the one or this is
the place to go, the way to dothings.
He says take heed, no onedeceives you.
So at this point in my life Igive the same warning to my mom,
right?
That's the job as we get older,I think, is we take care of our
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parents as much as we can.
And I tell her things like thiswhen I leave the car and you
know she's doing her puzzles inthere with the air conditioner
on.
You know, I say Mom, don't talkto strangers, okay, just don't.
If anyone knocks on the window,just don't look at them.
You know, don't talk tostrangers.
If the phone rings and they saythis is the IRS, please call
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this number, don't answer it,don't answer it at all.
If they say they're the FBI, itdoesn't matter, don't answer
the phone, you don't need to,we'll figure it out.
Because there are many whodeceive.
Right, and we all know that'strue.
But Jesus warns his discipleshere and he says be aware, many
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will come in my name, saying Iam.
Now, it says I am he, but it's,I am.
It's that idea of the name ofGod, of the name of God.
Thus saith the Lord.
And he says here, they'lldeceive many.
Now, jesus warns.
Now listen to this.
Jesus warns because there werepeople who were deceived, and
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there are many, jesus says, whowould be deceived.
Right, he's telling hisdisciples there's a lot of you
that might be deceived, so youneed to be careful.
Right, and we know many havecome in God's name.
Right, a God's name with a word.
Right, muhammad came speakinghis idea of what Allah had to
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say and many, many, many weredeceived by him.
Joseph Smith came with a wordand some special glasses to read
that word, you know, and hedeceived many.
We look at it and go that'sridiculous.
Who would fall for that?
Many, many people have believedMormonism and the deception of
that, jim Jones.
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We look at that and go that'scrazy.
Why would you go for someonesaying those things about being
the Messiah and stuff?
Many were deceived and we seethe aftermath of that, david
Koresh.
But many come into our world todeceive, to say here's what you
hope in, trust me, right, andJesus wants his disciples part
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of living and enduring throughthis life will be.
Watch out for people who deceive.
Now the best thing you can dois know what God's already said.
We talked about it last week.
How do you know a false prophet?
Well, if it doesn't come topass, what they say is one thing
, but if it disagrees with whatGod, who doesn't change, has
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said, run away, run away.
No matter who it is or whatthey're saying, don't be
deceived, and we have to becareful.
Now notice also there's somedeception that would come down
even in the world around themand this is interesting this
kind of gets our last dayssensors going off.
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Right as we read, you will hearof wars and rumors of wars,
nation rising against nation,kingdom against kingdom.
There will be earthquakes invarious places and families and
troubles the end of the world.
And Jesus says really, thepoint of this is to say things
like that are going to happen.
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Notice that he says the end isnot yet.
It's in there, verse seven, theend of verse seven.
The end is not yet.
Verse 7, the end of verse 7,the end is not yet.
You'll hear of all this stuff,but that's not the end.
Now check it out.
The truth is that wars, rumorsof wars, pestilence as mentioned
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in Matthew famines andearthquakes these things have
always happened.
It's been part of life.
I was hearing a while ago apodcast and they were talking
about the year 536.
536, is that even a year?
I don't know.
Can you have that kind of year?
536, interesting time.
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Most suppose that a volcano wentoff somewhere over in Iceland
or something like that went offsomewhere over in Iceland or
something like that, and it putout this ash and it covered the
whole world.
We read about it all over theplace, this ash that was in the
air that made the air lookyellowish and the sun was
darkened and all of these thingsyou can imagine.
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You walk outside and it's thatway.
But it's not just that way.
For a little while, it was thatway for years.
So much ash in the air and itcaused the plants not to grow
like they should.
They didn't thrive, so producewent down.
People didn't go outsidebecause they were freaked out.
The air was horrible and sopeople got weak.
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And then, within about 10 years,a plague came around, the Black
Death right, and 100 millionpeople estimated 15 to 50% of
the world's population died overa decade.
Wow, that's encouraging?
No, it's not.
But imagine if you lived duringthat time.
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The sun is dark and the moonlooks crazy, we don't have
enough to eat, there's famine,and then the Black Death comes
around and just everywherethere's death.
Wouldn't you think this is it?
This is the end.
I wouldn't blame them right?
In the early 1900s, you know,we had the Spanish flu and again
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, as many as 100 million peopledied.
This is not encouraging, but itwas said that people would get
on a trolley and before they mettheir stop they would be dead.
Just death everywhere.
Then World War I came around,war like we've never seen before
and millions of people died inWorld War I unprecedented
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followed by the Great Depressionand the Dust Bowl right.
So imagine it was easy to lookat life and go this is it.
This is the end of the world,and yet here we are.
This is the end of the world,and yet here we are.
So what I'm trying to say bythat and again I'm playing the
balanced side of this today whatI'm saying is this is part of
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life in a fallen world, fromtime to time.
Major trials and tribulationsit's the way it's been.
Trials and tribulations it'sthe way it's been.
And in the face of trials andtribulation, we need to endure,
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we need to carry on and keep ongoing.
Notice he says all of this willhappen and it is the beginning
of sorrows.
Now, this is interesting as faras it concerns the last days,
because the beginning of sorrowscould be the beginning of birth
pains.
Some are thinking about thisright now.
Right, contractions beforebirth.
They get more and more and theyget stronger and stronger.
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There's some false alarms inthere, but Jesus kind of hints
at the idea that as time goes on, these things will get more and
more and stronger and stronger.
Maybe, however, we realize thatnobody knows, as Jesus is going
to say.
Nobody knows the day or thehour.
You've got to keep on keepingon, you keep on going.
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And Jesus warns his disciplesthere.
Notice, though, as we look atthis, what it feels like I'm
saying is well, these thingswill happen.
Life continues on.
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It's always been this way.
It could be this way for a longtime.
That is the application fortoday, but I want to throw in
one more verse.
Now listen to this 2 Peter 3, 1through 4.
2 Peter 3, 1 through4.
2 Peter 3, 1-4.
You can always turn, he saysBeloved, and I'll write to you
this second letter in which Istir up your pure minds by way
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of reminder.
2 Peter 3, verse 2, now that youmay be mindful of the words
which were spoken before by theholy prophets and of the
commandment of us, the apostlesof the Lord and Savior, of the
commandment of us, the apostlesof the Lord and Savior, knowing
first verse 3, that scofferswill come in the last days,
walking according to their ownlusts and saying where is the
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promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fellasleep, all things continue as
they were from the beginning ofcreation.
So we get the double whammyhere.
We're encouraged to endure tothe end.
You may have to go throughtrials and tribulation, but
endure to the end.
We'll talk about that.
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But that might lead us to thisidea that, well, this has been
the way it's been for all theyears, the last 2,000 years.
Wars and rumors of wars andearthquakes, and bah humbug,
right, the Lord delays.
It's not going to happen in ourlifetime that God's going to
set up his kingdom.
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Peter here says you've got toremember this In the last days.
People will say that Life willjust continue on.
He's not coming back.
It doesn't matter.
Peter gives us a warning evenas we're considering this idea.
So be aware.
Now notice back in Mark 13,.
He warns of a few more things,warns them of deception.
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More things, warns them ofdeception.
And in verse 9 and 10, he warnsthat they'll be delivered up to
trial.
They will be delivered up tocouncils, beaten in synagogues,
brought before rulers and kingsfor my sake and testimony to
them.
And they were.
You read the book of Acts andthese disciples were brought
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before councils and kings.
They were accused and condemned.
All of them.
Really.
All of them faced martyrdom inone sense or another and this
was their life.
This is what they had to endure.
Notice verse 12 and 13.
Brother will betray brother todeath.
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And it goes on father, hischild, children rise against
parents and cause them to be putto death.
You'll be betrayed by yourclosest relations.
And we trust people?
Of course we do.
We ought to have people thatyou can trust.
But Jesus says here many timespeople fail us.
Even people that we love andthat really do love us, will
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fail us.
They're faulty, we're all human.
And Jesus warns them you got totrust God.
You're not going to be able totrust people 100%, but you can
trust God 100%.
Able to trust people 100%, butyou can trust God 100%.
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So notice all these thingsdeception, delivered to trial,
there's difficulties andtribulation that they'll face.
Even their best friends andfamily will turn on them and the
ultimate lesson is it was atime to learn to depend on God
alone.
That's one of the key things oflife that God teaches us all
through life is you got to trustme.
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People are wonderful to havearound and trust, but ultimately
you got to trust God alone.
And notice verse 11 kind ofpoints to that.
When they deliver you up, donot worry beforehand or
premeditate what you'll speak,but whatever is given to you
that hour, speak, for it's notyou who speak, but the Holy
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Spirit.
Now check it out.
They will be brought beforekings.
And Jesus says don't worryabout putting together your
defense, the Holy Spirit, god,the Spirit, will give you the
words to say and I think we seethat principle here that through
all the difficulties of lifedifficulties are not fun and
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really it's not God's pleasureto send difficulties in our life
but the difficulties now listen.
The difficulties force us totrust God, to depend on God.
All of them do.
When you have sickness in yourlife, you can look for a good
doctor, but you've got to trustGod.
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When you have social issues andfamily issues, you can look for
counsel, you can try to workthrough it, but ultimately
you've got to trust God.
No matter what comes into ourlife, we have to trust God.
And it hurts to trust God.
It's not always easy, but it'sthe only option we have
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ultimately to depend on him.
And that's what God wants towork into us through these times
, to give us the ability toendure.
Now the end will come in verse14.
We're going to switch to theclose, the distance part of that
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telescope and it's going tozoom out to the time of the end,
things that haven't happenedyet.
The end will come, but it might.
It might be today, that mightbe it.
That would be exciting.
That'd be good if we're alljust in heaven before lunch.
That'd be good if we're alljust in heaven before lunch.
I'm okay with that.
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It may and it could, but itmight not, and so in that case
we have to endure to the end,endure to the end.
Now, paul said much about thesekinds of things and they're good
pictures for us.
Acts 20, verse 24, and we'll goquickly here Acts 20, verse 24,
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he's talking to the Ephesianelders and he says this to them
Good picture, picture this.
He says guys, I want to finishmy race with joy.
So the finish line of whateveryour race your life looks like,
paul says here's what I want tofinish my race with joy.
So the finish line of whateveryour race, your life looks like,
paul says here's what I want todo, depending on God, I want to
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finish my race with joy.
In Philippians 3.14, he says itlike this I press toward the
goal, for the prize of theupward call of Christ Jesus.
He wanted to finish and get theprize.
Let's turn one last place, oneof my favorite verses of all
passages of all Hebrews, chapter12.
It's a good one to memorizeHebrews, chapter 12, verse 1.
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Now, we don't know who wrotethe book of Hebrews, but from
what he says here, I think Paulwould be not a bad choice for
that.
It seems to kind of line upwith things that he's told in
other places.
But notice this, therefore,since we're surrounded by so
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great a cloud of witnesses,that's chapter 11.
You can go back and look atthat.
Let us lay aside every weight,the sin which so easily ensnares
us, and let us run withendurance the race that is set
before us, looking unto Jesus,the author and finisher of our
faith.
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So here the author talks aboutthis race again and he says it's
not just about running it, it'sabout finishing it, but I want
to also run with endurance.
We're back at that word.
Endurance, it's the same word.
Hupomone, it's the same word tokeep on, keeping on, to be
patient and just burn through it.
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You know, it's that same idea.
And he gives lots of greatinput.
The author gives lots of greatinput on how you can run with
endurance.
You should study the whole parthere, this whole part.
Lay aside the weight thingsthat weigh you down in life, lay
aside the sin that snares youup.
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But I think verse two is.
If I had to pick one key, Iwould say verse two, the key to
running with endurance.
This race set before us tofinish, well, we gotta look unto
Jesus.
Look unto Jesus.
There's so much you can sayabout this.
It means to look and to stareat until it's burned in your
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mind's eye.
Look at Jesus until he's burnedthere.
But looking unto Jesus, justthree little things to look at
about Jesus.
Look at his loving death John 3, 16,.
For God so loved the world, godloved us so much that, while we
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were still sinners, christ diedfor us.
We look unto Jesus when we gothrough it.
Now think about this.
We look unto Jesus when we'regoing through things we don't
understand.
We want to understand one thingI know God loves me.
Jesus loves me.
This I know he does when Idon't understand life I'm going
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through it.
Look unto Jesus his lovingdeath.
Look unto Jesus.
Number two, his resurrection.
That Jesus didn't stay dead.
He rose again to give us a newlife, eternal life.
We talked about that when wehit Easter a couple weeks ago.
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That Jesus made a promise inJohn 14 to his disciples don't
let your heart be troubled.
Believe in God, believe also inme.
In my Father's house are manydwelling places.
If it were not so, I would havetold you I go to prepare a
place for you that, where I amthere, you may be also and you
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look at that life that God'spromised.
This world gets rough.
It definitely does.
Things fall apart in our worldand in the world at large.
They fall apart, but this isnot the end of it.
This is absolutely not the end.
We have eternal life, real lifethat Jesus has promised, and we
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got to look toward thatresurrection.
Look also last number three.
Look also last number three.
Look at his promise to comeagain.
When Jesus ascended to heaven inthe beginning of the book of
Acts, picture it after 40 days Ithink it was, I don't want to
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say 50, but 40 to 50 days Jesuswent up on the same Mount of
Olives with his disciples, sameplace, and as he was talking to
them, he just started ascending,like slowly rising into heaven.
Imagine that You're hisdisciples.
You're listening to a you knowa study from the risen Jesus and
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he just starts slowly going upto heaven.
And they watch him as he's upin the clouds and they lose
sight of him.
They don't even realize thatthere's angels standing around
them.
They're looking up, angels arein their midst and angels say to
them men of Galilee, why do youstand gazing up to heaven?
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The same Jesus who was taken upfrom you into heaven will also
come in like manner as you sawhim go into heaven.
The promise he's coming again.
He'll come in the same way thathe left.
Now there's a lot of details inthe last days and we'll probably
hit more of that next week, butultimately Zechariah lets us
(33:57):
know that he's going to land atone point back on the Mount of
Olives.
Crazy, there's going to be somekind of earthquake.
There's actually a fault lineon the Mount of Olives and it's
going to split.
The Mount of Olives is going tosplit through this massive
earthquake when Jesus lands onit and from there he's going to
go back and begin to rule andreign and conquer his enemies
(34:20):
and all of these things.
We'll look at it maybe nextweek, but the promise is sure
I'm coming again.
If I go to prepare a place,I'll come again, and that's the
kind of thing that gives usendurance.
This is not all there is in life.
This big old ugly world withwars and rumors of wars and
(34:41):
pestilence and famine andearthquakes, is not all there is
.
It's real, it's the reality oflife that one day we'll be with
Jesus forever and he'll set allthings right.
That's not just something wesay because we need something
good to say to get us throughlife.
That's true, it's the reality,it's what we put our whole faith
(35:04):
in and we trust God.
So these things looking atthese things, looking to Jesus
in these ways give us endurancethrough the difficult times.
God, more than just a study ofsome facts that we can rest on,
we know we absolutely need yourspirit, we need you, we look to
(35:30):
you and it's so hard to trustyou with everything.
But God, we want to trust youwhen the world doesn't make
sense.
God, we want to trust you whentimes are good.
God, help us to trust you.
I pray that we would just see alittle bit more of your love, a
little bit more of your futureand faithfulness to us.
God, help us to understandthese things not just in our
(35:53):
head, but also in our heart.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Mark, chapter 13,.
Verses 3 to 13 is kind of whatwe'll be looking at today.
And you know it's a shifting ofgears here in the book of Mark.
And you know it's a shifting ofgears here in the book of Mark.
It's the final week of Jesus'physical ministry, just days
from the cross.
(00:31):
But time has slowed down andhe's faced off with the
religious leaders there inchapter 12.
If there was any doubt thatthey needed to get rid of him,
they had all they needed therein that discussion.
Matthew ramps it up even morein Matthew 23, in the specifics
(00:51):
of this face-off.
But they're ready.
They're ready to get rid ofJesus.
Now he heads out of the templecourt after that face-off and he
exits the gates face off.
And he exits the gates Verseone as he went out the temple,
one of his disciples said to himteacher, see what manner of
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stones and what buildings arehere.
So as they go out, having justthrashed on the religious
authorities of the day, one ofhis disciples I think maybe
sheepishly says teacher, thoughis it all bad?
I mean, look at these stones ofthis temple, look at these
buildings.
It's got to be worth something.
(01:34):
Verse two Jesus responds do yousee these great buildings.
Not one stone shall be leftupon another, that shall not be
thrown down.
So Jesus here prophesies whatwould happen less than 40 years
later this temple that they werelooking at, this huge wonder of
(01:58):
the ancient world, would becompletely destroyed.
Now, as they continue to go outin verse 3, they go out the gate
, the eastern gate there of thecity of Jerusalem, and they
start to go down into the KidronValley.
If you can picture it, it'sreally great to be able to go up
(02:20):
.
Me and Brian were just talkingabout how awesome it would be to
go to Israel and see it again.
But if you can picture it, yougo out that gate from the temple
, you go down some stairs andyou go down into a valley so the
Kidron Valley, picture that.
And you go up this incline,this slope.
It's the Mount of Olives.
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A lot happens on the Mount ofOlives.
It's the Mount of Olives.
A lot happens on the Mount ofOlives.
Jesus will pray with hisdisciples in the Garden of
Gethsemane that's there, on theslope of the Mount of Olives.
It's hill-sized, I'd say.
And Jesus had recently comedown off that Mount of Olives
down the road into the city aspeople yelled Hosanna, that
(03:04):
happened.
But here now he goes out of thetemple and he's sitting
opposite on the hillside.
If you can picture it thetemple, the valley, the hillside
, the Mount of Olives.
He's sitting on the hillsidethere with his disciples.
And in verse three, as he sat onthe Mount of Olives opposite
the temple, peter, james, johnand Andrew ask Jesus a question,
(03:38):
two questions, privately Tellus when will these things be and
what will be the sign whenthese things will be fulfilled?
So very personal questions here.
Two questions when will thesethings be and what will be the
signs when all these things willbe fulfilled?
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If you look in Matthew, chapter24, a little more detail there
a phrase is added and the end ofthe age, what will be the signs
of the end of the age?
Mark doesn't include that, butI think he assumes we understand
that's what Jesus is talkingabout and they're lumping it all
together.
When will this temple bedestroyed and what will be the
(04:21):
end of the age?
When is the end coming, whenGod's kingdom is established on
earth?
Now questions are given and alittle disclaimer here.
If you're feeling a littlesleepy, a little disclaimer.
We're going to jump into somebrain benders today.
So if you don't feel like it,maybe go back and listen to it
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later, but do your best.
Brain benders and also adisclaimer.
What I teach today will go alittle bit against my instinct
as I look at the last days.
The Olivet Discourse is whatthis is called, vet discourse is
(05:07):
what this is called.
My instinct is going to be toconsider what we looked at last
week the eminent return of Jesus, this idea that one day, very,
very soon it seems, jesus willcome for his church.
He'll take us to be with him.
Things will fall apart onplanet earth and we will be with
the Lord forever.
God will set up his kingdom onearth.
(05:28):
That's the idea of eminentreturn, that anytime and we read
that here be ready, watch, youdon't know the day or the hour.
That's an important thing toremember.
That's an important principle.
The eminent return I think it'sactually the imminence with the
I Imminent return of Jesus isimportant and we live every day
(05:50):
looking around, going.
It could happen today and I'dbe OK with that.
But there's another principlethat we see here, for lack of a
better word, it's continuance.
Right, big words.
I know Continuance.
It's this idea that we need toendure.
Notice verse 13.
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We read it all last week, butverse 13 ends with this phrase
he who endures to the end shallbe saved.
Endurance the word in the Greekis hupomone, right, just in
case you wanted to amaze yourfriends with that.
It means to just keep onkeeping on, to endure, to be
(06:36):
patient the word is sometimesput in there, and so there's
this idea that, along withrealizing that Jesus could come
back and set all things righttoday, there's this other point
he might not.
We may have to endure for atime.
We may have to endure throughlife to continue to keep on,
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keeping on.
So both of these things arenecessary in the Christian life
Realizing that Jesus could comeat any day, necessary, looking
forward to it, but also enduringif he doesn't.
These are both important.
So some foundations to look at.
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Here is an idea here that we'relooking at what's known as the
near and far in end times.
Look at verse 13 again.
He says he who endures to theend shall be saved.
That word to the end, thatphrase to the end, it's the word
telos, and that'll be the lastGreek word I think I share with
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you today.
But telos, it's where we gettelescope from right.
So to the end, as far as youcan see, you take out your
telescope and you put it and youfocus it on something way out
there and Jesus says you'regonna have to endure to the end.
There's gonna be in thispassage an end that we're gonna
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look at more next week.
But there's also the near, andthat's really what we look at
today in verses like 3 to 13.
It's the near for the disciplesand we look at this near and
far.
This is biblical principle.
There's a near and far in god'smind and it comes down to who
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god is right.
Okay, again a lot of differentthoughts today, but but, but
it's who god is.
He's eternal.
We've talked about that, blessyou.
He's eternal.
Time is a little different forGod.
Check this out 2 Peter 3.8.
(08:45):
Beloved, do not forget this onething that with the Lord, one
day is as a thousand years and athousand years is as one day
when we talk about God and time.
He's eternal and time is kindof insignificant for him.
We've talked about it before.
(09:06):
He sees the beginning of timethere in the garden and he sees
the end of time where heestablishes a kingdom and
they're all right in front ofhim.
They're all solid.
He literally has all the timein the world.
From a movie that I love towatch Go check it out, anyways.
He literally has all the timein the world.
From a movie that I love towatch Go check it out, anyways.
(09:27):
He literally has all the timein the world.
It doesn't matter, with God, hesees it all.
And so for us, we're not likethat.
We wait for things.
Some have been waiting forschool to get out and you look
at the clock and it's like tick,tock, tock, tick, tock, and the
(09:47):
clock just goes so slow.
And we wait for it here in time, right.
When you go on a road trip,it's the are we there yet?
Right.
Time just doesn't go by fastenough.
When you're waiting for a babyto come, zach and Chelsea would
say Is it time?
Is it time?
Is it now?
(10:07):
We wait for things.
But God doesn't have to wait.
He's eternal.
He's got all of time under hiscontrol, under his control, and
he sees it all.
So here, as we look at thisprophecy in Mark 13, we see
there's near and far, and a biggap in between Verses 3 through
(10:34):
13 would be the near to thedisciples.
And Jesus is going to answerthese two questions that his
disciples give when will thesethings be and what will be the
sign of the fulfillment of allthings?
Right, that's basically theidea.
(10:55):
When will these things be?
Well, now, we talked about it.
The destruction of the templewould happen in AD 70 and no
stone would be left upon another.
But we look at this passagehere.
We'll read it.
We realize the early church wentthrough a lot of trials, a lot
of tribulations, a lot oftribulations.
(11:18):
Every single one of thedisciples.
They went through these kindsof things that we read about
here.
And for them Jesus says you'regonna have to learn endurance,
you're gonna have to learn toendure through great tribulation
(11:40):
.
Notice what Jesus says in versefive.
Jesus answered them, began tosay take heed that no one
deceives you, for many will comein my name saying I am he or I
am and will deceive many.
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But when you hear of wars andrumors of wars, do not be
troubled, for such things musthappen, but the end is not yet,
for nation will rise againstnation and kingdom against
kingdom.
There will be earthquakes invarious places, there will be
famines and troubles.
These are the beginning ofsorrows or birth pains.
(12:23):
But watch out for yourselves,for they will deliver you up to
councils and you will be beatenin the synagogues and you will
be brought before rulers andkings for my sake, for a
testimony to them.
And the gospel must be preached, the first preached, to all
nations.
But when they arrest you anddeliver you up, do not worry
(12:44):
beforehand or premeditate whatyou will speak.
But whatever is given to you inthat hour, speak, for it will
not be you who speak, but theHoly Spirit.
Now, brother will betraybrother to death.
Father, his child, childrenwill rise against parents and
cause them to be put to death.
You will be hated by all for myname's sake.
(13:05):
So Jesus warns his disciplesthere in verse 5, take heed,
beware, right, that's beware,beware of people who deceive.
And Jesus gives some differentideas of that.
(13:26):
People will deceive and saythat they're the one or this is
the place to go, the way to dothings.
He says take heed, no onedeceives you.
So at this point in my life Igive the same warning to my mom,
right?
That's the job as we get older,I think, is we take care of our
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parents as much as we can.
And I tell her things like thiswhen I leave the car and you
know she's doing her puzzles inthere with the air conditioner
on.
You know, I say Mom, don't talkto strangers, okay, just don't.
If anyone knocks on the window,just don't look at them.
You know, don't talk tostrangers.
If the phone rings and they saythis is the IRS, please call
(14:08):
this number, don't answer it,don't answer it at all.
If they say they're the FBI, itdoesn't matter, don't answer
the phone, you don't need to,we'll figure it out.
Because there are many whodeceive.
Right, and we all know that'strue.
But Jesus warns his discipleshere and he says be aware, many
(14:29):
will come in my name, saying Iam.
Now, it says I am he, but it's,I am.
It's that idea of the name ofGod, of the name of God.
Thus saith the Lord.
And he says here, they'lldeceive many.
Now, jesus warns.
Now listen to this.
Jesus warns because there werepeople who were deceived, and
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there are many, jesus says, whowould be deceived.
Right, he's telling hisdisciples there's a lot of you
that might be deceived, so youneed to be careful.
Right, and we know many havecome in God's name.
Right, a God's name with a word.
Right, muhammad came speakinghis idea of what Allah had to
(15:19):
say and many, many, many weredeceived by him.
Joseph Smith came with a wordand some special glasses to read
that word, you know, and hedeceived many.
We look at it and go that'sridiculous.
Who would fall for that?
Many, many people have believedMormonism and the deception of
that, jim Jones.
(15:39):
We look at that and go that'scrazy.
Why would you go for someonesaying those things about being
the Messiah and stuff?
Many were deceived and we seethe aftermath of that, david
Koresh.
But many come into our world todeceive, to say here's what you
hope in, trust me, right, andJesus wants his disciples part
(16:04):
of living and enduring throughthis life will be.
Watch out for people who deceive.
Now the best thing you can dois know what God's already said.
We talked about it last week.
How do you know a false prophet?
Well, if it doesn't come topass, what they say is one thing
, but if it disagrees with whatGod, who doesn't change, has
(16:24):
said, run away, run away.
No matter who it is or whatthey're saying, don't be
deceived, and we have to becareful.
Now notice also there's somedeception that would come down
even in the world around themand this is interesting this
kind of gets our last dayssensors going off.
(16:47):
Right as we read, you will hearof wars and rumors of wars,
nation rising against nation,kingdom against kingdom.
There will be earthquakes invarious places and families and
troubles the end of the world.
And Jesus says really, thepoint of this is to say things
like that are going to happen.
(17:08):
Notice that he says the end isnot yet.
It's in there, verse seven, theend of verse seven.
The end is not yet.
Verse 7, the end of verse 7,the end is not yet.
You'll hear of all this stuff,but that's not the end.
Now check it out.
The truth is that wars, rumorsof wars, pestilence as mentioned
(17:29):
in Matthew famines andearthquakes these things have
always happened.
It's been part of life.
I was hearing a while ago apodcast and they were talking
about the year 536.
536, is that even a year?
I don't know.
Can you have that kind of year?
536, interesting time.
(17:54):
Most suppose that a volcano wentoff somewhere over in Iceland
or something like that went offsomewhere over in Iceland or
something like that, and it putout this ash and it covered the
whole world.
We read about it all over theplace, this ash that was in the
air that made the air lookyellowish and the sun was
darkened and all of these thingsyou can imagine.
(18:17):
You walk outside and it's thatway.
But it's not just that way.
For a little while, it was thatway for years.
So much ash in the air and itcaused the plants not to grow
like they should.
They didn't thrive, so producewent down.
People didn't go outsidebecause they were freaked out.
The air was horrible and sopeople got weak.
(18:37):
And then, within about 10 years,a plague came around, the Black
Death right, and 100 millionpeople estimated 15 to 50% of
the world's population died overa decade.
Wow, that's encouraging?
No, it's not.
But imagine if you lived duringthat time.
(18:59):
The sun is dark and the moonlooks crazy, we don't have
enough to eat, there's famine,and then the Black Death comes
around and just everywherethere's death.
Wouldn't you think this is it?
This is the end.
I wouldn't blame them right?
In the early 1900s, you know,we had the Spanish flu and again
(19:22):
, as many as 100 million peopledied.
This is not encouraging, but itwas said that people would get
on a trolley and before they mettheir stop they would be dead.
Just death everywhere.
Then World War I came around,war like we've never seen before
and millions of people died inWorld War I unprecedented
(19:47):
followed by the Great Depressionand the Dust Bowl right.
So imagine it was easy to lookat life and go this is it.
This is the end of the world,and yet here we are.
This is the end of the world,and yet here we are.
So what I'm trying to say bythat and again I'm playing the
balanced side of this today whatI'm saying is this is part of
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life in a fallen world, fromtime to time.
Major trials and tribulationsit's the way it's been.
Trials and tribulations it'sthe way it's been.
And in the face of trials andtribulation, we need to endure,
(20:34):
we need to carry on and keep ongoing.
Notice he says all of this willhappen and it is the beginning
of sorrows.
Now, this is interesting as faras it concerns the last days,
because the beginning of sorrowscould be the beginning of birth
pains.
Some are thinking about thisright now.
Right, contractions beforebirth.
They get more and more and theyget stronger and stronger.
(20:55):
There's some false alarms inthere, but Jesus kind of hints
at the idea that as time goes on, these things will get more and
more and stronger and stronger.
Maybe, however, we realize thatnobody knows, as Jesus is going
to say.
Nobody knows the day or thehour.
You've got to keep on keepingon, you keep on going.
(21:19):
And Jesus warns his disciplesthere.
Notice, though, as we look atthis, what it feels like I'm
saying is well, these thingswill happen.
Life continues on.
(21:39):
It's always been this way.
It could be this way for a longtime.
That is the application fortoday, but I want to throw in
one more verse.
Now listen to this 2 Peter 3, 1through 4.
2 Peter 3, 1 through4.
2 Peter 3, 1-4.
You can always turn, he saysBeloved, and I'll write to you
this second letter in which Istir up your pure minds by way
(22:03):
of reminder.
2 Peter 3, verse 2, now that youmay be mindful of the words
which were spoken before by theholy prophets and of the
commandment of us, the apostlesof the Lord and Savior, of the
commandment of us, the apostlesof the Lord and Savior, knowing
first verse 3, that scofferswill come in the last days,
walking according to their ownlusts and saying where is the
(22:25):
promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fellasleep, all things continue as
they were from the beginning ofcreation.
So we get the double whammyhere.
We're encouraged to endure tothe end.
You may have to go throughtrials and tribulation, but
endure to the end.
We'll talk about that.
(22:46):
But that might lead us to thisidea that, well, this has been
the way it's been for all theyears, the last 2,000 years.
Wars and rumors of wars andearthquakes, and bah humbug,
right, the Lord delays.
It's not going to happen in ourlifetime that God's going to
set up his kingdom.
(23:07):
Peter here says you've got toremember this In the last days.
People will say that Life willjust continue on.
He's not coming back.
It doesn't matter.
Peter gives us a warning evenas we're considering this idea.
So be aware.
Now notice back in Mark 13,.
He warns of a few more things,warns them of deception.
(23:32):
More things, warns them ofdeception.
And in verse 9 and 10, he warnsthat they'll be delivered up to
trial.
They will be delivered up tocouncils, beaten in synagogues,
brought before rulers and kingsfor my sake and testimony to
them.
And they were.
You read the book of Acts andthese disciples were brought
(23:55):
before councils and kings.
They were accused and condemned.
All of them.
Really.
All of them faced martyrdom inone sense or another and this
was their life.
This is what they had to endure.
Notice verse 12 and 13.
Brother will betray brother todeath.
(24:16):
And it goes on father, hischild, children rise against
parents and cause them to be putto death.
You'll be betrayed by yourclosest relations.
And we trust people?
Of course we do.
We ought to have people thatyou can trust.
But Jesus says here many timespeople fail us.
Even people that we love andthat really do love us, will
(24:41):
fail us.
They're faulty, we're all human.
And Jesus warns them you got totrust God.
You're not going to be able totrust people 100%, but you can
trust God 100%.
Able to trust people 100%, butyou can trust God 100%.
(25:01):
So notice all these thingsdeception, delivered to trial,
there's difficulties andtribulation that they'll face.
Even their best friends andfamily will turn on them and the
ultimate lesson is it was atime to learn to depend on God
alone.
That's one of the key things oflife that God teaches us all
through life is you got to trustme.
(25:23):
People are wonderful to havearound and trust, but ultimately
you got to trust God alone.
And notice verse 11 kind ofpoints to that.
When they deliver you up, donot worry beforehand or
premeditate what you'll speak,but whatever is given to you
that hour, speak, for it's notyou who speak, but the Holy
(25:45):
Spirit.
Now check it out.
They will be brought beforekings.
And Jesus says don't worryabout putting together your
defense, the Holy Spirit, god,the Spirit, will give you the
words to say and I think we seethat principle here that through
all the difficulties of lifedifficulties are not fun and
(26:07):
really it's not God's pleasureto send difficulties in our life
but the difficulties now listen.
The difficulties force us totrust God, to depend on God.
All of them do.
When you have sickness in yourlife, you can look for a good
doctor, but you've got to trustGod.
(26:29):
When you have social issues andfamily issues, you can look for
counsel, you can try to workthrough it, but ultimately
you've got to trust God.
No matter what comes into ourlife, we have to trust God.
And it hurts to trust God.
It's not always easy, but it'sthe only option we have
(26:52):
ultimately to depend on him.
And that's what God wants towork into us through these times
, to give us the ability toendure.
Now the end will come in verse14.
We're going to switch to theclose, the distance part of that
(27:14):
telescope and it's going tozoom out to the time of the end,
things that haven't happenedyet.
The end will come, but it might.
It might be today, that mightbe it.
That would be exciting.
That'd be good if we're alljust in heaven before lunch.
That'd be good if we're alljust in heaven before lunch.
I'm okay with that.
(27:37):
It may and it could, but itmight not, and so in that case
we have to endure to the end,endure to the end.
Now, paul said much about thesekinds of things and they're good
pictures for us.
Acts 20, verse 24, and we'll goquickly here Acts 20, verse 24,
(28:02):
he's talking to the Ephesianelders and he says this to them
Good picture, picture this.
He says guys, I want to finishmy race with joy.
So the finish line of whateveryour race your life looks like,
paul says here's what I want tofinish my race with joy.
So the finish line of whateveryour race, your life looks like,
paul says here's what I want todo, depending on God, I want to
(28:23):
finish my race with joy.
In Philippians 3.14, he says itlike this I press toward the
goal, for the prize of theupward call of Christ Jesus.
He wanted to finish and get theprize.
Let's turn one last place, oneof my favorite verses of all
passages of all Hebrews, chapter12.
It's a good one to memorizeHebrews, chapter 12, verse 1.
(28:50):
Now, we don't know who wrotethe book of Hebrews, but from
what he says here, I think Paulwould be not a bad choice for
that.
It seems to kind of line upwith things that he's told in
other places.
But notice this, therefore,since we're surrounded by so
(29:12):
great a cloud of witnesses,that's chapter 11.
You can go back and look atthat.
Let us lay aside every weight,the sin which so easily ensnares
us, and let us run withendurance the race that is set
before us, looking unto Jesus,the author and finisher of our
faith.
(29:32):
So here the author talks aboutthis race again and he says it's
not just about running it, it'sabout finishing it, but I want
to also run with endurance.
We're back at that word.
Endurance, it's the same word.
Hupomone, it's the same word tokeep on, keeping on, to be
patient and just burn through it.
(29:54):
You know, it's that same idea.
And he gives lots of greatinput.
The author gives lots of greatinput on how you can run with
endurance.
You should study the whole parthere, this whole part.
Lay aside the weight thingsthat weigh you down in life, lay
aside the sin that snares youup.
(30:14):
But I think verse two is.
If I had to pick one key, Iwould say verse two, the key to
running with endurance.
This race set before us tofinish, well, we gotta look unto
Jesus.
Look unto Jesus.
There's so much you can sayabout this.
It means to look and to stareat until it's burned in your
(30:37):
mind's eye.
Look at Jesus until he's burnedthere.
But looking unto Jesus, justthree little things to look at
about Jesus.
Look at his loving death John 3, 16,.
For God so loved the world, godloved us so much that, while we
(30:58):
were still sinners, christ diedfor us.
We look unto Jesus when we gothrough it.
Now think about this.
We look unto Jesus when we'regoing through things we don't
understand.
We want to understand one thingI know God loves me.
Jesus loves me.
This I know he does when Idon't understand life I'm going
(31:21):
through it.
Look unto Jesus his lovingdeath.
Look unto Jesus.
Number two, his resurrection.
That Jesus didn't stay dead.
He rose again to give us a newlife, eternal life.
We talked about that when wehit Easter a couple weeks ago.
(31:43):
That Jesus made a promise inJohn 14 to his disciples don't
let your heart be troubled.
Believe in God, believe also inme.
In my Father's house are manydwelling places.
If it were not so, I would havetold you I go to prepare a
place for you that, where I amthere, you may be also and you
(32:04):
look at that life that God'spromised.
This world gets rough.
It definitely does.
Things fall apart in our worldand in the world at large.
They fall apart, but this isnot the end of it.
This is absolutely not the end.
We have eternal life, real lifethat Jesus has promised, and we
(32:26):
got to look toward thatresurrection.
Look also last number three.
Look also last number three.
Look at his promise to comeagain.
When Jesus ascended to heaven inthe beginning of the book of
Acts, picture it after 40 days Ithink it was, I don't want to
(32:47):
say 50, but 40 to 50 days Jesuswent up on the same Mount of
Olives with his disciples, sameplace, and as he was talking to
them, he just started ascending,like slowly rising into heaven.
Imagine that You're hisdisciples.
You're listening to a you knowa study from the risen Jesus and
(33:12):
he just starts slowly going upto heaven.
And they watch him as he's upin the clouds and they lose
sight of him.
They don't even realize thatthere's angels standing around
them.
They're looking up, angels arein their midst and angels say to
them men of Galilee, why do youstand gazing up to heaven?
(33:34):
The same Jesus who was taken upfrom you into heaven will also
come in like manner as you sawhim go into heaven.
The promise he's coming again.
He'll come in the same way thathe left.
Now there's a lot of details inthe last days and we'll probably
hit more of that next week, butultimately Zechariah lets us
(33:57):
know that he's going to land atone point back on the Mount of
Olives.
Crazy, there's going to be somekind of earthquake.
There's actually a fault lineon the Mount of Olives and it's
going to split.
The Mount of Olives is going tosplit through this massive
earthquake when Jesus lands onit and from there he's going to
go back and begin to rule andreign and conquer his enemies
(34:20):
and all of these things.
We'll look at it maybe nextweek, but the promise is sure
I'm coming again.
If I go to prepare a place,I'll come again, and that's the
kind of thing that gives usendurance.
This is not all there is in life.
This big old ugly world withwars and rumors of wars and
(34:41):
pestilence and famine andearthquakes, is not all there is
.
It's real, it's the reality oflife that one day we'll be with
Jesus forever and he'll set allthings right.
That's not just something wesay because we need something
good to say to get us throughlife.
That's true, it's the reality,it's what we put our whole faith
(35:04):
in and we trust God.
So these things looking atthese things, looking to Jesus
in these ways give us endurancethrough the difficult times.
God, more than just a study ofsome facts that we can rest on,
we know we absolutely need yourspirit, we need you, we look to
(35:30):
you and it's so hard to trustyou with everything.
But God, we want to trust youwhen the world doesn't make
sense.
God, we want to trust you whentimes are good.
God, help us to trust you.
I pray that we would just see alittle bit more of your love, a
little bit more of your futureand faithfulness to us.
God, help us to understandthese things not just in our
(35:53):
head, but also in our heart.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
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