Father, you know the things which preoccupy us.
You know that even now, Father, even a holy place,
even though Jesus is in our midst, even though we're talking to you,
even though the Holy Spirit is present,
Father, you know how easy it is for us to be preoccupied with so many things.
Maybe it's a pain. Maybe it's an appointment.
Maybe it's a word that somebody said to us beforehand.
Maybe it's a dream. Maybe it's a fantasy, an idol.
Father, you know how easy it is for us to be preoccupied and gripped by many things.
Father, we ask that in your kindness and in your mercy,
your Holy Spirit would fall with fresh power upon us this morning,
that you would make us disciples of Jesus,
gripped by the gospel who live for your glory.
And, Father, that you would help our hearts to be gripped with the words of Jesus
and so that we might live our lives by them.
Father, this we ask, and we ask it in the name of Jesus,
your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So, I had a small, odd type of experience this morning.
Not that odd, but between the two services,
I go have a coffee at a coffee shop nearby.
And on the way back, I'm praying about my talk.
And, you know, there's always things about your talk that you...
I always have things about my talk I'm not sure about.
Anyway, I was praying about it,
and it was as if God told me that I had to change my introduction,
the one that I'd been working on all week.
And that's what I'm about to do,
because I really had this sense that God told me that I was supposed to do it.
Afterwards, coffee, you can ask me what my original introduction was going to be.
And that's this.
If I was to be able to tell university students and professors
and people who work in certain types of professions,
especially things like social work and in politics,
if I was to tell you that there were...
If I was to say that there were...
If I had a chance,
I would say that there's two or three passages in the Bible in particular
that everybody in university or in social work or in politics
should meditate upon deeply,
maybe even weekly,
and take deeply to heart.
And there'd be two or three or four texts like that
that I would say that are absolutely essential
in our day and age to develop a Christian mind.
And the text in Luke,
which I just read...
I didn't write it.
I read a few minutes ago.
That would be one of those texts
that I would say that
that just about every academic,
every university student,
every professor,
social work,
politician,
a few other professions as well,
economists,
that you need to,
we need to deeply meditate upon this
on a regular basis
if we want to be able to begin to think Christianly.
So let's look.
That's a pretty big claim
that a text like this Luke text
is so fundamental to developing a Christian mind.
It's a pretty big claim.
So let's look at it
and we'll see maybe why
I would make such a big claim about the text.
So it was Luke chapter 21
and we're back after a couple of weeks.
We'll have a few weeks,
you know,
over the next week
where we,
a few weeks where we don't look at Luke,
the gospel of Luke,
but we're moving towards
finishing the gospel of Luke.
And today we're at Luke chapter 21
and we'll begin at verse five again.
And here's how the text goes.
And while some were speaking of the temple,
how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings,
and just sort of pause there,
ancient historians,
both Roman and Jewish,
commented that
even though the temple
wasn't one of the seven wonders of the world,
many of them said
that it was more glorious
than the seven wonders of the world,
that it was a spectacular piece of architecture.
It was begun,
a rebuilding,
rejuvenation of the temple
was begun about 20 years
before the birth of Jesus.
And in fact,
the temple was to outlive Herod,
in a sense,
the building project outlived Herod.
And even while
they were talking about this,
the temple was continually
being added upon
and made more beautiful.
The work would continue
until the early 60s,
about another 30 years
after this incident.
So it was known in antiquity
as a spectacularly beautiful building.
And then verse 6.
So they say this to Jesus
because they're proud of it.
It's Jewish people.
They're proud of its beauty.
They're proud of everything
that it symbolizes
about religion
and God's presence with them.
And Jesus responds
in a very surprising way.
It would have been,
it'd be hard for us
just to imagine
how deeply shocking
it would be to them.
But Jesus says in verse 6,
as for these things that you see,
the days will come
when there will not be left here
one stone upon another
that will not be thrown down.
Now just sort of pause there
before we keep reading.
There's a couple of things in it.
The first thing is
that when Jesus says,
it translated quite well in English,
and for these things that you see,
he's saying that
there's going to be
several things connected
to the destruction of Jerusalem.
And we'll see that
when the people respond,
they understand that
he's talking not just narrowly
about the destruction
of the temple,
but that Jesus has
other things in mind as well.
And in fact,
for Jewish people at the time,
they would have seen
the destruction of the temple
as not just being a catastrophe,
but it would have been
a catastrophe for the people.
It would have been a sign
of God's judgment upon the people.
And so they're very,
very curious that Jesus
would say something like this
is about to happen.
And the other thing
which is about this text is
I would be one of those people
that would be described
by outsiders
as taking the Bible literally.
And there's a way
to understand that
which is true.
I take the Bible seriously.
I believe that
even though this was originally
an historical document
written about 30 years,
34 years,
35 years after the death
and resurrection of Jesus
as a result of historical research,
I would believe
that it is also
God's word written,
that every word
that God wanted
to have written down
there was written down.
But we have to understand
that people,
we just always talk
in metaphors
and analogies.
It's just the way
that human beings talk.
Human beings have always talked
with metaphors
and analogies.
And so when it says here
that there will not be
one stone upon another
that will not be thrown down,
Jesus is using a metaphor
of total and complete destruction.
So it's not the case
that if you went back in time
and you heard Jesus say this
and then in the year 70
when the temple was destroyed
you put a stone
on top of another stone
and said,
ha ha ha,
Jesus was wrong.
It wouldn't work like that.
It doesn't literally mean
that after the destruction
there isn't one stone
upon another.
It's a metaphor.
It's a way of talking
about complete
and total destruction,
unusability of the temple.
And that's what Jesus says.
Look at that verse 6 again.
It's for these things
that you see.
Look at the temple,
all of these things.
Okay?
The days will come,
plural,
so there's going to be
a variety of things
that happen,
when there will not be left here
one stone upon another
that will not be thrown down.
So the people around Jesus
are desperately interested
in this.
And so they say
in verse 7,
they're going to ask Jesus,
two questions.
And one of the things
you're going to notice
is that Jesus,
by the time we get
to verse 38,
Jesus doesn't answer
one of the questions.
He answers just
one of the two questions
and he also answers
a question they don't ask,
but they should have asked.
And here's what they say,
verse 7,
and they asked him,
teacher,
when will these things be
and what will be the sign
when these things
are about to take place?
So in other words,
when's it going to happen?
What are the signs
that it's about to happen?
Jesus never answers
the when question.
He's going to talk
about the signs,
but before that,
he takes sort of a
sideways look
at the whole question.
And that begins
in verse 8.
It's actually going to continue
right up to verse 19,
but we'll just read 8 and 9
and then pause.
Jesus said,
see that you are not
led astray.
Remember that?
Jesus doesn't want
his people to be led astray.
He doesn't want
any human being
to be led astray.
For many will come
in my name saying,
I am he,
and the time is at hand.
In other words,
many people will come
claiming to be the Messiah,
or they will come
claiming to know
how history is moving,
and they will claim
to know exactly
what the direction
of history
and the specific
important moment
that we are now in
in terms of
history's direction.
And Jesus says,
do not go after them.
And when you hear
of wars and tumults,
do not be terrified,
for these things
must first take place,
but the end
will not be at once.
Now, one of the things
I've done today,
I'm going to describe
the points,
but I've turned
all of the points
into prayers.
You see,
one of the things,
the vision for our church
is it will be
a prayerful,
Bible-teaching
church,
amongst other things.
And so,
one of the things
I want to try to do
is to help you
to learn how to pray,
help myself to learn
how to pray,
to learn to pray the Bible.
I mean,
how can you go wrong
as a follower of Jesus
if you learn to pray
in response
to what Jesus says?
So, here's the first thing.
If you could put it up,
Andrew.
Dear God,
please grow in me
a complete
and total
rejection
of every
Messianic
and Utopian
movement
and vision.
There you go.
Dear God,
please grow in me
a complete
and total
rejection
of every
Messianic
and Utopian
movement
and vision.
By the way,
this doesn't mean
that you should reject
Messianic Jews.
some Jewish people
who become Christians
refer to themselves
as Messianic Jews
because they believe
the Messiah has come.
I'm not referring to this.
Here's the thing.
This is one of the reasons,
by the way,
why I said
that every university student
and professor
and those in politics,
they need to meditate
upon this text.
What we're going to see
is that from verses
8 to 19,
Jesus gives
a whole series
of non-signs.
Okay?
In other words,
the world thinks
that these things
are very important
and the Bible's
not going to downplay it.
I'm going to get back to that.
The Bible's not dismissing
these as being
unimportant things.
What Jesus is going to say,
these are non-signs.
This is normal life.
That's what Jesus is saying.
This is normal life.
This isn't a sign
of the end.
And the reason
that those of us
who've gone far
in education
need to study
or are involved
in politics
is that,
in fact,
it's hard for modern
Canadians to think
without thinking
in terms of the categories
of messianic
and utopian
visions
and movements.
And in fact,
a significant part
of what goes on
in academia
is helping us
to become
accommodated
to different
visions
of how
history is moving,
of how morality
is progressing,
of what is
right and wrong
in terms of
utopian
or messianic
visions
or understandings
of where history
is going
to some type
of utopia.
And it's so deeply
embedded
in how we talk
and how we analyze
things.
And often,
university education,
I mean,
it does other things
as well.
I mean,
it teaches you
how to do statistics
and, you know,
there's obviously,
it does more than this.
But it's deeply
interwoven
into the categories
of modern thought,
increasingly into
the categories of law,
deeply interwoven
in politics,
sociology,
economics,
literary theory,
religious studies.
And what Jesus
is going to say
is that every single
one of these
utopias
and visions
is wrong.
Every one
without exception,
none of them
will take place.
Every one
will lead you
astray.
Every one.
There will not
come a time
when poverty
is eradicated.
Gosh,
aren't you glad
you came to church
this morning?
Haven't I just
lifted up your spirits?
There will never
be a time
that poverty
is eradicated.
There is never
going to be a time
when there will not
be violence.
There will never
be a time
when there will not
be war.
There will never
be a time
when there is
universal prosperity.
Star Trek
is wrong.
Yes,
I'm sorry.
I've really
ruined
some people's
weeks.
But Star Trek
is wrong.
There will not
be this time
of universal
peace on the earth
where mankind
and womankind
go boldly
to explore places
that have never
come before.
It's just
not going
to happen.
That's the claim
that Jesus
makes.
By the way,
for 2,000 years
since this,
there have been
countless secular
and religious
versions of
utopian and
messianic visions
and they've all
been wrong.
2,000 years
of Jesus being
correct.
And yet today,
and I'm not
picking on the
left,
it happens to be
that right now,
other than Star Trek,
which is sort of a
right wing,
well,
sort of soft
left,
therapeutic
version of this.
You know,
but today,
we tend to think
primarily of
progressive in
what would be
called left-wing
or liberal
categories,
but that's just
an historical
accident.
In fact,
it's only a
historical accident
in certain forms.
There's a version
of Islam,
which is inherently
messianic and
utopian,
and that's what
drives the terrorists,
and to some extent,
much Muslim thought.
There's Hindu
versions of it,
but we're far more
familiar with it
in terms of
different views
around the left
and in terms of
gender and sexuality.
But in the past,
there's been right-wing
versions of this
as well,
and even Christianized
versions using
Christian language.
And Jesus is saying
here,
I'm going to describe
normal life.
And in normal life,
as we're going to see
in a moment,
there's going to be
earthquakes,
there's going to be
famines,
there's going to be
pestilences,
there's going to be
social unrest,
there's going to be
social chaos,
there's going to be
war,
there's going to be
false messiahs,
there's going to be
religious misleaders,
there's going to be
persecution,
there's going to be
oppression,
this is normal life.
I know I've really
encouraged you,
but we'll get to some
hope and encouragement
in the midst of it.
And so the first thing
that we can pray,
in fact,
you know,
maybe if I lose you
and you fall asleep
for the rest of the
sermon,
there's this point,
maybe I'll wake you up
again later on
or something like that
or drag you off of
your Facebook updates,
but this is a really
important prayer for us
to pray,
especially if you
actually don't think
it's true.
And the more you
don't think it's true
of the economics
or sociology
or English literature
that you're taking,
then you have to
pray this the most.
Because it means
we're not even aware
of how much
Messianic and
Utopian visions
are influencing
the categories
of our thought.
So as we go on
through these next
verses,
which will go on
far quicker,
the first point is,
Dear God,
please grow in me
a complete and
total rejection
of every Messianic
and Utopian
movement
and vision.
Let's keep looking.
Some of you are going
to say,
George,
isn't this depressing?
Like, George,
you've been really,
really,
really bleak.
Like, George,
if this is the case,
why don't Christians
just all go build
bomb shelters
in northern Ontario
or North Dakota
or Wyoming
or Idaho
and stockpile
canned goods
and bottled waters
and just sort of
wait for the end
to come.
Well, actually,
I think historically
when Christians
take the words
of Luke 21
the most seriously,
it never leads us
to be in bomb shelters.
In fact,
Jesus is going to
tell us in a few
verses
that that's the exact
opposite thing
of what we should do.
And in fact,
it's actually really
important for us
doing concrete things
to help injustice
and help the poor.
Because, you see,
if we actually believe
wrong things
that don't work,
then it's not going
to help us
do any type
of earthly good.
It will only lead us
to do earthly harm.
Let's just continue
to see how Jesus
sort of purges our minds.
Verse 10,
Then Jesus said to them,
Nation will rise
against nation
and kingdom
against kingdom.
There will be
great earthquakes
and in various places
famines
and pestilences,
and there will be
terrors
and great signs
from heaven.
But before all this,
they will lay
their hands on you,
he's talking to Christians,
and persecute you,
delivering you up
to the synagogues
and prisons,
and you will be brought
before kings
and governors
for my name's sake.
I mean,
one of the people
who's listening to this
is,
some of the people
who are listening to this,
that's exactly
what's going to happen.
That's going to happen
to them
within a few years
of this,
even though they're
not aware of it.
This will be your
opportunity
to bear witness.
Here's the first
little bit of a turn
in terms of
bearing some type
of hope.
That,
this sounds
really depressing,
especially when it
talks about persecution,
and Jesus wants us
to understand
that when persecution
happens to us,
it's not that we have
to feel really
sorry for ourselves.
I mean,
it's fine to come
to God with
our struggles
with the fact
that nobody
likes to be persecuted,
nobody likes
to be slandered,
nobody likes
to have their name
dragged through the mud,
nobody likes
to be misunderstood,
nobody likes
to be beaten up
or have bad
financial things
happen to them,
and it's fine
for us to come
to God in prayer,
pouring out our
heart about this,
but at the end
of the day,
for some reason
in the mystery
of God,
we are to understand
that we,
it's not that we've
got to do this,
that we get to do it,
we get to bear
witness to Jesus.
we get to bear
witness to Jesus.
I'm going to talk
about this,
I haven't talked
about this in a long
time,
but some of you
might or might not
know that we used
to own a church
building,
and we used to be
part of the Anglican
Diocese of Ottawa,
and just over
eight years ago,
we,
after a long period
of trying to deal
with the denomination,
we realized the time
had come when in
faithfulness to Jesus
and in trust and
belief in the Bible
that we could no
longer be part of
the denomination,
and there was all
sorts of slanderous
things said about us
in the press,
and we ended up
taking a stand,
and we left the
denomination,
we ended up,
the diocese sued us
for something that
would have eventually
cost seven figures,
and as part of a
settlement out of
court,
we walked away
from the building.
I'm just mentioning
this because,
what was one of the
things that happened
as a result of this?
I mean,
and I'm not,
this isn't a,
one of the things
that happened to this,
I got to be on
coast-to-coast
CBC morning radio.
I got to be on
CTV news across
the country,
bearing witness to
Jesus,
bearing witness to
why we took the
stand that we did.
I got to spend
time with
reporters.
I got to be,
talk to the fellow
who's now the,
the mayor of
Toronto,
about how the
Bible works to
change lives.
And I,
that wouldn't
have happened if
we hadn't been
pursued in the
courts.
Just would not
have happened.
No,
nobody's calling me
up today.
By the way,
I am not at
all missing
the feeling of
dread that comes
when you see
that it's a
reporter on
your cell phone
and you're
going to have
to talk to
them.
I don't say,
oh God,
please bring
that back to
me.
I'm not,
but you know,
God opened
doors up through
that that would
not have happened
otherwise and
might never
happen again to
me,
but I don't
know.
I don't know
the future.
I don't know
what will happen.
But here's the
thing,
that what we
have to say to
ourselves when
these things
happen to us,
we can in
private say,
God,
why me?
But God is
giving us an
opportunity and
that's what Jesus
is saying.
It's the beginning
of the hope
which comes in
the text,
the peeking
out to keep
us going.
So verse 13
again,
this will be your
opportunity to bear
witness.
Settle it,
therefore,
in your minds,
not to meditate
beforehand how to
answer.
for I will
give you a
mouth and
wisdom which
none of your
adversaries will
be able to
withstand and
contradict.
Just sort of
pause there for
a second.
The original
Greek is hard to
translate here in
a simple way.
The language about
meditating beforehand,
another way to put
it, it would have
been long and
wouldn't fit well
in English,
but basically the
image is that you
spend all of your
time rehearsing a
speech as if you're
in a play.
And what Jesus is
saying is,
okay,
don't spend all
your time back
in a practice
room rehearsing
what you're going
to say.
Go out and
live.
Go out and
bear witness.
And as we're
going to see in a
moment, go out
and help the
poor and go out
and try to deal
with injustice and
go out and share
the gospel and go
out and do all
these things.
Don't spend all
your time rehearsing
what you're going
to say like you're
in a play.
Okay?
Go out.
Get on your
knees, then stand
up and get off
your duff and go
out and do
things.
And that's what
Jesus is saying.
And also notice
here a very, very
subtle way that
Jesus is making a
claim to be God
and he's claiming
to rise from the
dead.
Look at verse 15
again.
For I, I will
give you a mouth
and wisdom.
I will give you
these words.
This is dynamite.
Part of the flow
of the book is
that Jesus is
saying this right
from Luke chapter
9 on to here.
Jesus is saying,
I'm going to
Jerusalem to die.
I'm going to
Jerusalem to die.
I'm going to
Jerusalem to die.
Jesus is now in
Jerusalem.
And when we next
look at the next
chapter, the next
chapter is about
the finalizing of
the plot to put
Jesus to death.
It's about the
last supper and
about, in other
words, like 48
hours after Jesus
says this, he's
going to be dying
on a cross.
And he's
pointing to the
fact that he's
going to rise,
which he's also
been telling people
since Luke chapter
9.
I'm going to
rise from the
dead.
And he gives
himself the type
of power that
only God can
give.
What is Jesus
saying?
If George had
any degree of
ability to speak
to the fellow who
is now the mayor
of Toronto, it's
not because George
is clever, but
because Jesus gave
me the words.
That is a
profound claim that
Jesus is making,
that he will
conquer sin and
death and all
hostile spiritual
powers as he
dies and rises,
and that he is
God.
We'll continue
on.
Verse 16, you
will be delivered
up even by parents
and brothers and
sisters and relatives
and friends, and
some of you they
will put to death.
You will be hated
by all for my
name's sake.
Who would want
to become a
Christian, eh?
But not a hair of
your head will
perish.
Once again, this is
a symbol.
It's not literal.
It's not that if
all of a sudden you
came up to me and
said, cut some of my
hair, he said,
aha, Jesus is
wrong.
No.
It doesn't
contradict it.
Jesus is saying,
God, I care for
you.
You become my
disciple.
You trust me with
your life.
You let me into
your life.
I let you into my
life and I care
for you.
I care for even
the tiniest details.
And Jeremiah has
had us singing this
song for the last,
I don't know,
four or five months.
It has a spectacular
line and a deeply
biblical line.
In fact, I meant
to ask him to sing
it and I forgot
to do it.
Earth has no sorrow
that heaven can't
heal.
Or won't heal,
can't heal?
I think it's can't
heal.
Earth has no sorrow
that heaven can't
heal.
That's what Jesus
is saying.
Earth has no sorrow
that heaven can't
heal.
And even to the
hairs of your head,
you matter to me.
Verse 19,
by your endurance,
you will gain your
lives.
It's a very,
very,
very powerful
thing.
Now,
now,
Jesus is going
to say something
which has
created,
has killed a lot
of trees.
If you go and
try to read some
academic commentaries
on Luke,
if you go read
some journal articles
on Luke,
you'll see that
there's been lots
of pages and
books written
to what about
Jesus is about
to say.
Because what
Jesus is about
to do is to
predict something
that took place
33 years
after his
death.
And,
in fact,
one of the
reasons that
many people
will say that
the Gospel
of Luke
was written
in the late
70s or the
early 80s
is because
the commentators
say we all
know that no
one knows
the future.
And,
because we
know that
no one
knows the
future,
therefore,
in this text
of Scripture,
when Jesus
describes the
destruction of
Jerusalem,
we know that
he can't have
done that.
So,
therefore,
it was added
by Christians
afterwards.
Now,
I'm not going
to try to,
there's a very,
very significant
piece of evidence
as to why
this is a
false claim.
In fact,
the words
of Jesus
have a very
peculiar and
powerful
historical proof
that he said
them before
and that it
was known
and that they
took it to
heart.
And,
well,
let's read it
and then I'll
tell you what
happened.
Verse 20,
but when you
see Jerusalem
surrounded by
armies,
then know that
its desolation
has come near.
Then let those
who are in
Judea flee to
the mountains
and let those
who are inside
the city
depart
and let
not those
who are out
in the country
enter it
for these
are days
of vengeance
to fulfill
all that is
written.
Alas for
women who
are pregnant
and for
those who
are nursing
infants in
those days
for there
will be
great distress
upon the
earth and
wrath.
God's wrath
against this
people.
They will
fall by the
edge of the
sword and
be led
captive among
all nations
and Jerusalem
will be
trampled
underfoot by
the Gentiles
until the
time of the
Gentiles
or the
pagans
are fulfilled.
In the
year 66
approximately
33 years
after this
was written
the Jewish
revolt against
Rome began
and Rome
sent a
general
to deal
with it
and the
general
had a
partial
surrounding
of Jerusalem
and actually
entered
Jerusalem
but the
Jewish
forces
were able
to drive
him out
of the
city
and when
he left
the city
they were
able to
successfully
ambush
him
and basically
destroy
his army.
It was
profoundly
shocking
to Rome
at the
success
and the
power
of the
Jewish
armed
resistance
against
Roman
imperial
power.
So they
sent one
of their
most
competent
generals
Vespasian
to go
and to
deal with
these
troublesome
Jews
and so
Vespasian
organized a
variety of
armies,
Roman
legions
and first
he quelled
the uprising
in Galilee
and a few
other areas
and then
after he
quelled
the uprising
with great
success,
he was a
very competent
general,
he gathered
the legions
and surrounded
Jerusalem
and it
looked as
if Jerusalem's
doom was
near.
But then
the emperor
Nero
committed
suicide
in Rome
thousands
of miles
away.
committed
suicide
and then
thus began
what historians
now refer
to as the
year of
the four
emperors
because a
massive power
struggle
emerged in
Rome.
In the course
of approximately
12 months
four different
people became
the emperor
of the Roman
Empire
and in the
midst of all
of that
turmoil
as Vespasian
has surrounded
Jerusalem with
armies to
destroy it.
He is called
back from
Jerusalem to
Rome to
deal with
it and he
goes and he
is successfully
able to deal
with the
political turmoil
and he
becomes the
emperor,
Vespasian.
And he
sends,
after he
has cemented
power in
Rome in
the year
69,
he sends a
message to
his son who
is now the
general to
return to
the siege and
the destruction
of Jerusalem.
And in the
year 70,
in August,
Jerusalem
falls.
And as is
reported by
Josephus,
approximately
one million
Jewish people
die in that
Jewish revolt
and a hundred
thousand of
them are
carried away
as slaves
into captivity.
And here's
the thing
about this.
Historians
record that
when Vespasian
left and the
siege of
Jerusalem was
temporarily
lifted,
the Christian
church left.
Christians did
not die in
the sack and
destruction of
Jerusalem.
They relocated
far away.
Historical
record.
Don't you
think it is
reasonable to
say that they
remembered the
words of
Jesus, but
when you
see Jerusalem
surrounded by
armies, then
know that its
desolation has
come near.
Then let those
who are in
Judea flee to
the mountains and
let those who
are inside the
city depart, and
let not those
who are out in
the country
enter it.
Here's the
thing, folks,
and I've
turned it into a
prayer.
Dear God,
please help me to
remember that the
words of Jesus
have come true in
the past, and
please grow in
me a trusting
knowledge that his
words are true
today and every
day until the
end.
It's a prayer that
many of us need to
pray, isn't it?
Dear God, please
help me to
remember that the
words of Jesus
have come true in
the past, and
please grow in me a
trusting knowledge
that his words are
true today and
every day until
the end.
By the way, if
you don't have
time to write
these down, the
notes for the
sermon and the
audio of the
sermon go on the
webpage, hopefully
on Monday or
soon after that, if
these are helpful
to you in terms of
forming your
prayer.
But some of you
might be saying,
George, that's all
very, very moving,
but you skipped
over the judgment
part.
Like, George, you
skipped over.
Surely you have to
talk about this.
George, surely,
okay, so
Jesus, you know,
he says this, he's
right, and you
know, you also
say that he
predicts his death
upon the cross and
his resurrection, and
you know, last week
you talked about the
historical evidence for
the reality of the
resurrection and the
meaning of the
resurrection, but
George, George,
look at verse 20
again, but when you
see Jerusalem
surrounded by armies
and know that its
desolation has come
near, then let those
who are in Judea flee
to the mountains and
let those who are
inside the city
depart and let not
those who are out in
the country enter it,
for these are days of
vengeance, also
could be translated
as judgment to
fulfill all that is
written, and then,
you know, alas for
women who are pregnant
and for those who are
nursing infants in
those days, for there
will be great distress
upon the earth and
wrath, and it's the
wrath of God against
this people.
George, how can you,
how, George, how can I
take this seriously?
You know, one of the
dangers of messianic and
utopian movements is
that they always leave
lots of people dead.
Messianic movement in
Cambodia, Pol Pot, a
third of the population,
Soviet forced famines in
Ukraine, Maosy Tong's
Great Revolution.
Even today, I'm going to be
a bad boy, but, you know,
as our society becomes
more post-Christian, and
whatever that's going to
be like, it's no, people
probably don't even think
of it as post-Christian
now because it's post-
post-Christian, and now we
want to give doctors the
power to kill the weak, and
we're already killing the
babies in the womb, and
when you have utopian
movements and visions,
people die, and even when we
talk about climate change, I'm
not going to enter into
whether or not I, a few
weeks ago, I talked about
this as an example, and I
didn't say that it was a
fact, and I got a very nice
email rebuking me for not
saying that it was a fact.
You know, I think if it's
science, it's always open for
debate, but, you know, it's
either some type of
historical inevitability that
leads people to die, or
because the end justifies the
means, it means that some
people have to die, and on
one hand, it can just sound as
if we're not aware of the
cruelties often of the
messianic movements and
utopias that we believe this
moment, it's easier for us to
see the cruelties of the ones
that are in the past, although
even then, now, as you know,
with the controversy around the
memorial to the victims of
communism, there are still
people who don't want to
acknowledge that they backed a
completely evil social system
with all of their power for
decades, and they don't want to
acknowledge that, but it's easy
if you go far enough back that
you can see it in the past, you
can't see it in the present, but
people die, and there's no
mercy, and here's the thing for
us as we listen to this text,
as we listen to this text, it's a
very, very un-Canadian idea, I'm
not going to be able to sell it
to you, all I'm going to be able
to say is this, that the Bible
says that we are rebels against
God, and that every single human
being will be judged, that that is
completely and utterly
inevitable, but this is not just
another messianic thing where it's
just going to be, it sucks to be
you, and you're all going to die,
and you're just all under the
judgment of God, that as Jesus is
saying this, he is saying this,
the day before he does the,
introduces the Lord's Supper, and
that night he'll be betrayed, and
the next day he will hang upon the
cross, and the great promise of the
scriptures is that God gives every
human being a choice, that's why
there are evangelists, this is why
there are missionaries who go to
even unreached peoples, and the
choice that God gives to us is the
judgment of God must surely fall, and
the choice before us is whether it
falls on me, or whether it falls on
Jesus in my stead, and in my place, that
is the human choice, we Canadians filled
with pride think that it is a terrible
thing that everybody is not in heaven,
and it breaks God's heart that not
everybody will be in heaven, but we
should view it that even having one
person in heaven is a miracle of God
that required the death of God, the Son of
God, upon the cross, to bear the
desolation and the judgment that you and
I deserve.
If you could put it up, Andrew, I've
turned it into a prayer.
Dear God, I thank you that by your
grace, the judgment that I deserved
fell on Jesus, and that you bestowed on
me the life that he deserved.
Please grow in me a grateful, humble,
trusting knowing of what Jesus did for
me.
Dear God, I thank you that by your
grace, the judgment that I deserved
fell on Jesus, and that you bestowed on
me the life that he shared, that he
deserved.
Please grow in me a grateful, humble,
trusting knowing of what Jesus did for
me.
That's the context to understand this.
I mean, there's other issues, but that's
no Christian can understand the whole
issue of judgment without first thinking
about the cross.
And, you know, this is a profound, if any
of you are here and you have this sense of
doom about your life, if any of you are
here struggling with shame, that there is
something that's not just that you've done
wrong things, but that there's something
fundamentally wrong for you, if you are
here thinking that fundamentally bad things
are going to happen to you, that good
things will never happen to you, if doom
characterizes your life, the story of the
gospel is the doom that you deserved fell on
Jesus, and the life that he deserved is
offered to you today.
All because Jesus loves you.
We have to wrap this up.
And some of you might be saying, George, you
haven't even started to talk about the
second coming of Jesus yet.
But, by the way, one of the things that I do
here, you know, it would be a very different
sermon if I took Matthew and Mark and Luke
and tried to show how they were all similar and
how they were all different.
In our Going Deeper this week, I just, those
of you who do Going Deeper, which is in the
bulletin, I give you the three parallel
texts, and you can look at them and talk
about the similarities and differences in
the same text.
We're just camping in Luke.
One of the things to understand about the
destruction of Jerusalem, and especially
comes if you look at Matthew's account of
it, is that in some ways, it's almost as if
what happens in Jerusalem is maybe like a
bit of a prototype or a bit of a precursor
of what the end might be, that in some ways,
Jerusalem will probably be involved in
whatever the end is.
And even here in Jesus' teaching, he basically
implies that Israel will come back together
again, that there will be a Jewish nation and
Jewish people.
But Jesus goes and moves very, very quickly
into now into the fact that literally,
literally, and I mean literally the way people
used to mean literally as meaning not sort of
like vaguely like, but I actually like
literally, literally, literally.
It's really hard because there used to be a
word called literally that meant something
and now literally doesn't mean what it
literally used to mean for all people.
And so somebody needs to reinvent a word
that now means what literally used to mean
like 10 years ago.
But I mean like actual, okay?
Jesus actually says that he will return and
he uses the title, he uses constantly throughout
the Gospel of Luke, the title of the Son of Man.
In fact, just before we read it, if you could put
up the next point, Andrew, as the prayer to sort
of remind us of this.
Dear God, please grow in me an ever-deepening
confidence and longing for the return of Jesus
Messiah.
Dear God, please grow in me an ever-deepening
confidence and longing for the return of Jesus
Messiah.
This is the flip side of what I said earlier about
students and academics and over-educated people
like myself that not only do we have to rid our minds
of messianic and utopian visions and movements,
but we have to grasp and be gripped by the real
return of Jesus.
And here's what he says in verse 25.
And there will be signs and sun and moon and stars and
on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of
the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is
coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be
shaken.
This, verses 25 and 26, are up until now it's been
non-signs.
These are signs.
And then verse 27.
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory.
Now when these things begin to take place,
straighten up, raise your heads because your redemption,
your glorification is drawing near.
One of the things that divides Christians is whether you're
post-millennial, pre-millennial, amillennial.
And if you're pre-millennial, are you pre-millennial
dispensationalist or historic pre-millennial?
And if you're pre-millennial, are you pre-trib,
mid-trib, or post-trib?
And those actually divide churches and Christians.
And what I'd like to suggest is that we have to act,
you know, everybody, if you haven't read it, you should go
and read the C.S. Lewis Narnia Chronicle book called
The Silver Chair, which has Puddleglum the Marsh Wiggle.
And in The Silver Chair, Aslan gives these two kids a task,
which is that they have to go and rescue the crown prince of
Narnia from The Wicked Witch.
And he said, I'm going to give you some help,
which is this Puddleglum the Marsh Wiggle.
And he gives them, I think it's four signs.
And he gives them these four signs that they are to seek and follow.
And if they follow them, they'll find the prince
and they'll be successful.
And he tells them what they are.
He has them memorize them.
And he says, yes, they have to memorize them every day.
And of course, part of the dynamic of the book is they squabble,
they fight, they, you know, they do all these things.
They forget the signs and they remember the signs.
But every one of the signs, eventually they come to,
they eventually recognize the sign and it does leave them to the prince.
And I won't tell you anything more in case it spoils the end of the book.
But here's the thing.
We spend way too much time learning theories about the second coming of Jesus
when we should just really probably try to remember the signs of the second coming of Jesus.
In fact, it would probably be a point of unity amongst Christians
if we said, well, okay, you can be premillennial, pre-trib, you know, blah, blah, blah.
And you can be amillennial, you can be this.
Let's just all memorize the signs.
Because it could be that we're so busy arguing about the theory
that we forget what the signs are and miss the end,
which would be deeply, deeply, deeply ironic.
And we'll probably make God chuckle
and just at how foolish us biped human beings are.
Here's the thing.
Andrew, the next point.
Dear God, please help me to remember the signs and the non-signs
of the return of Jesus Messiah.
Dear God, please help me to remember the signs and the non-signs
of the return of Jesus Messiah.
Look at them again for verse 25 and 26.
And I want to say something here.
So people like me stand up on stages like this,
but usually when they do it, there's like 4,000 or 5,000 people
and there's a television show and all of that.
None of that.
We don't have that.
But usually what they'll do is they'll tell you when they say,
and there will be signs and sun and moon and stars
and on the earth distress of nations and perplexity
because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,
people fainting with fear and with foreboding
of what is coming on the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they'll tell you exactly what that means and looks like.
Okay?
I'm going to get in trouble, but I'm going to say it.
I won't get in trouble with you guys
because, you know, you come here
and most of you are more or less like me.
Here's the thing.
Anybody who tells you that they know what these things are
and what are liberal and sort of what are literal
and what are symbolic,
they don't know.
They can't know.
They can never know.
When it happens, then we'll say,
oh, I guess that was literal.
I guess that was symbolic.
Until it happens, you won't know what's literal
and what's symbolic.
You just won't.
You can't.
So just remember the signs.
Just remember the signs.
I guess I think just with the time,
let's just read the text
and then I'll just wrap it all up.
Remember I said to you a little bit earlier
about the,
this actually doesn't lead us to inaction,
but to action.
And let's look at verse 29.
And he told them a parable.
Look at the fig tree and all the trees.
As soon as they come out in leaf,
you see for yourselves and know that summer is already near.
So also when you see these things taking place,
you know that the kingdom of God is near.
Truly I say to you,
this generation will not pass away
until all has taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.
And just sort of pause.
Generation probably means that
the end will come suddenly
and the people who begin to see the signs
will be there to see the end of the whole thing.
It could also mean,
because of some odd oddities in the Greek language,
it could mean that the Jewish people
will always survive
until the second coming of Jesus.
But the important thing here,
it's the memory verse for the week,
is heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.
It's the Christian basis
for us understanding the New Testament
that it needed to be written.
That Jesus says that his words and teaching
will not pass away.
And what we have in the New Testament
is the words of Jesus
and the teaching of Jesus
recorded for us to read.
Andrew, if you could put up the sixth point.
Dear God,
please help me to read the Bible
knowing that heaven and earth will pass away,
but that the words and teaching of Jesus
will not pass away.
Dear God,
please help me to read the Bible
knowing that heaven and earth will pass away,
but that the words and teaching of Jesus
will not pass away.
You know,
the reason I accept this as being true
is because I believe that Jesus
really did rise from the dead.
That it vindicates and justifies
what he taught.
That he's my savior.
And that therefore,
when I read all of the Bible,
I read all of the Bible
mindful that heaven and earth will pass away,
but the words of Jesus
will not pass away.
And that's to be the filter
of how I understand,
why I understand
that the Bible is important.
I need to get it into my mind,
into my heart,
and into my will,
and into my heart,
into my soul.
I need to get it into me.
I need to have it for me.
I need to trust it.
I need to build my life upon it.
I need to preach it.
I need to teach it.
I need to bear witness to it.
Because the one who died for me,
who bore my judgment,
and defeated sin and death and hell
and all hostile spiritual powers,
he truly rose from the dead.
And one final prayer.
Andrew, if you could put it up,
this will be our closing prayer.
Dear God,
please make me a disciple of Jesus
gripped by the gospel,
who daily rises from prayer
to stand straight with head held high,
to bear witness to you,
and to do good,
all for your glory.
When those of us
were going into the lawyers' meetings
because of the lawsuit
that was made against the church,
you know,
that's what we'd sort of do.
We wouldn't sort of go in like this.
You'd realize that the way you go in
is you stand straight,
head held high,
and you go in.
And while the world
has been overcome
with the fear of all of these things,
and while we go from one utopia
to another,
all of which fail,
the Bible here is saying
that we get on our knees in prayer,
we think about the words of Jesus,
then we stand straight
with our heads held high,
and we go out to do good.
See, the thing is,
the Bible tells us
that poverty will never be eradicated,
but it also tells us
that we have a constant obligation
for the poor.
The Bible tells us
that there will never be a time
of universal prosperity,
but the Bible tells us
that we are to pray
for the prosperity
and work for the prosperity
and the blessing of this city
and of this nation.
And so,
we are to go ahead
and we are to do that.
We are to do that confident
that God is sovereign over history,
that Jesus,
who is the same one
who died upon the cross
and rose again,
is the same one
who will return,
that our labor is not in vain,
that we do not have to try
to wait to help
a particular poor person
until we figure out
how to eradicate
all of poverty,
that we are to care
for the poor in this city,
that we are to pray
for the prosperity
of this city,
that if you're a young man
or a young woman
or an old man
or an old woman
and you have an entrepreneurial bend,
start that business.
Hire people.
That we are to be aware
of the poor
in our neighborhood
and we are to try
to feed them
and we are to try
to go out
and do what we can
to help them.
And if you're in politics,
well then you can't
just think in terms
of politics
in terms of powerful
interest groups,
but you have to be aware
of how the economy
affects the poor
and you have to be aware
of how to work
an economy and pray
to try to figure out
how to work the economy.
Use the best of your mind
so that it leads
to prosperity
for our nation
and prosperity
for our city.
That these texts,
they give us a ground
for hope.
And so we believe
the words of Jesus
that poverty
will never be eradicated,
but we also believe
the words of Jesus
that we are to care
for the poor.
We're to believe
the Bible
that there will not be,
that Star Trek
is false.
But then we're also
to believe the Bible
and to pray and work
for the prosperity
of the city.
We get on our knees
and pray.
We think and read
God's word.
We trust the words
of Jesus
and then we stand
up straight
with our head
held high
and we do good
and bear witness
all for the glory
of God.
Please stand.
You've been very patient.
I went a little bit
longer than usual
and I had to skip over
some of the passage,
but you know,
this is such a glorious,
glorious,
glorious hope
hope.
And it's just so like God
that he would even
place into this thing
which gives harbingers
of the end
the fact that
Jesus' words
were even fulfilled
in Jerusalem
and Judea
in the late 60s,
within 30,
35 years
of the death
and resurrection,
of Jesus speaking
these words.
So my prayer for you
is that you'll have
a deep confidence
in Jesus
and a deep confidence
in his word.
And that if you do not
yet know Jesus,
if you haven't given
your life to Jesus,
that you just call out
with your heart
and say,
Jesus,
thank you that you
died upon the cross
for me.
Thank you that you
took my place.
Thank you that bestow
upon me life.
Jesus,
be in my life.
I want to be in your life.
Be my savior.
I want to follow you
as Lord.
There's no better time
than today to say
such a prayer.
And for all of us,
those who've taken
that step,
then just pray
the mission of the church
over ourselves.
Father,
make me a disciple
of Jesus
gripped by the gospel
who lives for your glory.
That's a prayer
we can pray
for ourselves
every day of our lives.
Let's brow
our heads in prayer.
Father,
pour out your Holy Spirit
upon us.
Cleanse us
and cause us
to reject
all false messiahs
and utopias
and all messianic
and utopian visions.
Father,
help us
to put those things
to death in us.
And Father,
at the same time,
we ask that you help us
to be gripped
by what Jesus did
for us on the cross.
Be gripped by the fact
that his word is true
and that it will never fail,
that we can build
our lives around it
and upon it.
And Father,
grip us with the promise
of his return.
Grip us,
Father,
with this.
May this,
Father,
be our blessed hope.
Fan into flame
within us
an ever deeper longing
and yearning
for the return of Jesus.
Fan into flame
within us
an ever deeper longing
and yearning
to be with him,
to see his face,
to have him see us.
Father,
make us disciples
of Jesus
gripped by the gospel
who live day by day
to do good
and to bring you glory,
all to your glory,
bearing witness to you,
all to your glory.
Father,
make us such disciples.
And this we ask
in Jesus' name.
Amen.