WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.300 I'm going to read together from the Gospel of Mark chapter 13 verses 1 to 27. 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:10.779 So it's printed in your bulletin. 00:00:10.779 --> 00:00:13.339 You have a hard copy there in the bulletin. 00:00:13.339 --> 00:00:16.539 We've got more Bibles out today than we've had in the past. 00:00:16.539 --> 00:00:19.100 There's some at the back, there's some on the sides. 00:00:19.100 --> 00:00:23.900 We've had a big Bible donation recently, which is great, always good to have more Bibles. 00:00:23.900 --> 00:00:28.620 So feel free at any time to grab one if you'd like to have one while we look at God's word 00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:29.620 together. 00:00:29.620 --> 00:00:34.980 So Mark 13 verses 1 to 27. 00:00:34.980 --> 00:00:40.899 And as Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, 00:00:40.899 --> 00:00:44.020 what wonderful stones, what wonderful buildings. 00:00:44.020 --> 00:00:49.439 And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings that will not be left here one stone 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:52.120 upon another that will not be thrown down? 00:00:52.120 --> 00:00:56.820 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew 00:00:56.820 --> 00:00:58.420 asked him privately. 00:00:58.420 --> 00:01:00.780 Tell us, when will these things be? 00:01:00.780 --> 00:01:04.460 What will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished? 00:01:04.460 --> 00:01:08.980 And Jesus began to say to them, See that no one leads you astray. 00:01:08.980 --> 00:01:14.260 Many will come in my name saying, I am he, and they will lead many astray. 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:19.219 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. 00:01:19.219 --> 00:01:22.060 This must take place, but the end is not yet. 00:01:22.060 --> 00:01:25.859 For nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. 00:01:25.859 --> 00:01:29.620 There will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines. 00:01:29.620 --> 00:01:31.939 These are but the beginning of the birth pains. 00:01:31.939 --> 00:01:36.260 But be on your guard, for they will deliver you over to councils and you will be beaten 00:01:36.260 --> 00:01:37.620 in synagogues. 00:01:37.620 --> 00:01:43.239 You will stand before governors and kings for my sake, and for kings for my sake to bear 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:44.859 witness before them. 00:01:44.859 --> 00:01:49.299 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 00:01:49.299 --> 00:01:53.819 And when they bring you to trial and they deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand 00:01:53.819 --> 00:01:59.419 what you will say, but say whatever is given to you in that hour, for it is not you who 00:01:59.419 --> 00:02:01.659 speak but the Holy Spirit. 00:02:01.659 --> 00:02:06.339 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will 00:02:06.339 --> 00:02:10.620 rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my 00:02:10.620 --> 00:02:12.060 namesake. 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:15.019 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 00:02:15.019 --> 00:02:20.500 But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be, let the 00:02:20.500 --> 00:02:25.379 reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 00:02:25.379 --> 00:02:29.300 Let the one who is on the house top not go down nor enter his house to take anything 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:33.979 out, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 00:02:33.979 --> 00:02:38.780 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, 00:02:38.780 --> 00:02:41.659 pray that it may not happen in winter. 00:02:41.659 --> 00:02:45.740 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the 00:02:45.740 --> 00:02:49.259 creation that God created until now and never will be. 00:02:49.259 --> 00:02:54.500 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:58.299 But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. 00:02:58.299 --> 00:03:02.939 And then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or look, there he is, do not 00:03:02.939 --> 00:03:04.139 believe it. 00:03:04.139 --> 00:03:09.019 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead 00:03:09.019 --> 00:03:10.180 astray. 00:03:10.180 --> 00:03:13.500 If possible, the elect, but be on guard. 00:03:13.500 --> 00:03:16.419 I have told you all things beforehand. 00:03:16.419 --> 00:03:20.699 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not 00:03:20.699 --> 00:03:25.219 give its light, the stars will be falling from heaven, the powers in the heavens will 00:03:25.219 --> 00:03:29.779 be shaken, and then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power 00:03:29.779 --> 00:03:31.179 and glory. 00:03:31.179 --> 00:03:36.179 And he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds from the ends 00:03:36.179 --> 00:03:39.339 of the earth to the ends of heaven. 00:03:39.339 --> 00:03:41.139 This is God's holy word. 00:03:41.139 --> 00:03:42.259 All right. 00:03:42.259 --> 00:03:45.339 We are coming back to Mark's gospel. 00:03:45.340 --> 00:03:48.659 We spent a good chunk of 2023 in Mark's gospel. 00:03:48.659 --> 00:03:53.340 And then from now till Easter, we're going to finish Mark's gospel, Mark 13 through 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:54.340 16. 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:59.180 The back half of Mark's gospel, chapter 9 to 16, is all about Jesus' journey towards 00:03:59.180 --> 00:04:00.180 the cross. 00:04:00.180 --> 00:04:02.819 So he's got his eyes turned towards Jerusalem. 00:04:02.819 --> 00:04:05.580 Now, 13 and beyond, he's in Jerusalem. 00:04:05.580 --> 00:04:07.620 So he's never going to leave again. 00:04:07.620 --> 00:04:11.939 And for two weeks, we're going to be in Mark 13 this weekend next week. 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:15.819 And if you're reading with me, you will have noticed that Mark 13 is about the end of the 00:04:15.819 --> 00:04:16.819 world. 00:04:16.819 --> 00:04:19.899 It's about everything that's going to happen in the end of history. 00:04:19.899 --> 00:04:28.259 A lot of times, people will preach Mark 1 to 12 and 14 to 16, because Mark 13 is notoriously 00:04:28.259 --> 00:04:33.659 tricky, very difficult, lots of language like the abomination of desolation. 00:04:33.659 --> 00:04:34.659 What is that? 00:04:34.659 --> 00:04:40.579 So we're going to look at it for two weeks together and think about it. 00:04:40.579 --> 00:04:45.339 Since the 19th century, I think there have been three big trends related to people, modern 00:04:45.339 --> 00:04:48.099 people thinking about the end of the world. 00:04:48.099 --> 00:04:53.659 So when materialism rose up in the 19th century, this view that there is nothing that exists 00:04:53.659 --> 00:05:00.620 but matter in motion, no God above, no heaven beyond, nothing invisible. 00:05:00.620 --> 00:05:05.060 People started to talk about the fact that the end of the world is just one day the sun 00:05:05.060 --> 00:05:08.939 is going to either go cold or explode fire. 00:05:08.939 --> 00:05:14.300 So we're going to die, all of us, either by heat or by freezing to death. 00:05:14.300 --> 00:05:15.699 Nothing's going to be remembered. 00:05:15.699 --> 00:05:17.259 Nothing's going to matter. 00:05:17.259 --> 00:05:20.860 So that's the 19th century's view, materialism. 00:05:20.860 --> 00:05:27.819 And then that gave way, I think, to the 20th century where we love the post-apocalyptic. 00:05:27.819 --> 00:05:32.860 So the 20th century, every single decade, I read an essay about this recently, how every 00:05:32.860 --> 00:05:39.660 single decade since film was created, we've seen an increase in post-apocalyptic movies, 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:43.220 that genre, books, movies, films, cinema. 00:05:43.220 --> 00:05:45.100 People love the post-apocalyptic. 00:05:45.100 --> 00:05:46.699 The viewers say that by their money. 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:52.420 They go to the cinema to see post-apocalyptic films. 00:05:52.420 --> 00:05:57.740 There's great literature in the genre, The Road, Cormac McCarthy, wonderful book. 00:05:57.740 --> 00:06:00.620 Then there's The Popular, The Hunger Games. 00:06:00.620 --> 00:06:06.860 Go back to the 90s, Armageddon, all the way to the zombie apocalypse craze that we're 00:06:06.860 --> 00:06:07.860 in right now. 00:06:07.860 --> 00:06:12.459 Tons of zombie apocalypse movies coming out at the moment. 00:06:12.459 --> 00:06:14.819 People love to think about the end of the world. 00:06:14.819 --> 00:06:17.100 We're going to say more about why in just a moment. 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:21.860 One of the third big things that's happening is about the end of the world is the transhumanist 00:06:21.860 --> 00:06:23.019 movement. 00:06:23.019 --> 00:06:28.259 Transhumanist movement is a movement that seeks to incorporate artificial intelligence 00:06:28.259 --> 00:06:32.659 into the human body so that the end of the world will ultimately be the possibility of 00:06:32.659 --> 00:06:36.860 downloading human consciousness so that we can live forever. 00:06:36.860 --> 00:06:43.339 This past week, Elon Musk put a microchip in a human brain, and the claim is that that 00:06:43.339 --> 00:06:48.500 person that he did that surgery on is now able to control technology by just thinking. 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:50.060 They said it was successful. 00:06:50.060 --> 00:06:54.620 A person is walking around right now that can control their phone and a computer just 00:06:54.620 --> 00:06:56.259 by thinking. 00:06:56.259 --> 00:06:59.259 That's transhumanism, that's the development of it. 00:06:59.259 --> 00:07:00.699 This is all of this. 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:02.099 It's about the end of the world. 00:07:02.099 --> 00:07:03.740 What's the end of the world going to be like? 00:07:03.740 --> 00:07:06.539 That's exactly what the disciples were asking about right here. 00:07:06.539 --> 00:07:07.980 Jesus, what are these things? 00:07:07.980 --> 00:07:09.219 The end of the world. 00:07:09.219 --> 00:07:10.219 What is it? 00:07:10.219 --> 00:07:15.139 Now, when Christians start talking about the end of the world in a modern city like Edinburgh, 00:07:15.139 --> 00:07:19.899 I think two things can happen or two issues come up. 00:07:19.899 --> 00:07:24.180 Maybe today you're here exploring the faith, and you'll have heard this, that when Christians 00:07:24.180 --> 00:07:27.100 talk about the end of the world, there are two problems. 00:07:27.100 --> 00:07:34.019 One is that there is a Christian subculture that comes to places like Mark 13, Matthew 00:07:34.019 --> 00:07:41.379 24, the parallel passage, and creates their entire Christian tradition around these passages, 00:07:41.379 --> 00:07:46.579 builds big systems of thinking about the end times, what's going to happen in and tries 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:52.060 to basically read the Bible alongside the news cycle, and read the abomination of desolation 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:56.540 and what's happening in the United States and Israel and places like that all the time. 00:07:56.540 --> 00:07:57.540 That's a real problem. 00:07:57.540 --> 00:08:00.620 Jesus actually comes in this passage and says, do not do that. 00:08:00.620 --> 00:08:01.899 We're going to talk about that next week. 00:08:01.899 --> 00:08:04.259 He tells us, don't do that. 00:08:04.259 --> 00:08:08.740 Don't read the end times next to the news cycle and the Bible altogether. 00:08:08.740 --> 00:08:10.540 He warns us against that here. 00:08:10.540 --> 00:08:16.579 The other issue that we face is that people in the modern world will say, Christians are 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:18.939 escapists. 00:08:18.939 --> 00:08:24.620 They think about heaven, they think about the end of things, the heavenly life, the pilgrims 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:30.339 progress to the celestial city, some say, and they do that so much that they become of 00:08:30.339 --> 00:08:32.539 no earthly good at all. 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:35.779 They think about the end so much that they don't think about the present and they don't 00:08:35.779 --> 00:08:37.460 think about injustice. 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:40.779 They don't think about the problems of today, the problems in our city, the problems that 00:08:40.779 --> 00:08:44.980 people are facing. 00:08:44.980 --> 00:08:49.420 This in Mark 13, we're going to see this week, next week, says to every single one of us 00:08:49.420 --> 00:08:55.980 today, you really do have to think more about the end of the world. 00:08:55.980 --> 00:08:59.779 That's a Christian duty, in fact, to think about the end of the world, to ponder over 00:08:59.779 --> 00:09:04.740 it, to explore it, and at the same time, while you say there is an end of the world, I need 00:09:04.740 --> 00:09:05.820 to think about it. 00:09:05.820 --> 00:09:11.860 He gives us, I think, here five reasons why thinking about the end of the world more, 00:09:11.860 --> 00:09:15.259 not less, makes you more helpful. 00:09:15.259 --> 00:09:18.220 His more helpful is good for today, for the present. 00:09:18.220 --> 00:09:20.340 Now, we're not going to do all five. 00:09:20.340 --> 00:09:24.019 This morning, we're just going to do two, and we'll do three next week. 00:09:24.019 --> 00:09:25.019 Let's think about that. 00:09:25.019 --> 00:09:29.220 First, let's think about what is Jesus teaching here about the end of the world, and then 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:34.800 what are two of the five ways that He says, thinking about that actually helps you immensely 00:09:34.800 --> 00:09:40.019 right now, can really actually transform your life in many ways, right now. 00:09:40.019 --> 00:09:42.419 What is the Christian view of the end of the world? 00:09:42.419 --> 00:09:43.419 That's what He's talking about here. 00:09:43.419 --> 00:09:44.419 What is it? 00:09:44.419 --> 00:09:47.100 What is Jesus teaching here? 00:09:47.100 --> 00:09:48.939 Let's simplify it as much as we can. 00:09:48.939 --> 00:09:54.259 Jesus is talking in this passage about two big events that are going to take place, and 00:09:54.259 --> 00:09:57.980 you can see the first one He mentions in verse two. 00:09:57.980 --> 00:10:02.779 He says to the disciples, do you see these great buildings, the temple mound, all the 00:10:02.779 --> 00:10:03.779 great buildings of the temple? 00:10:03.779 --> 00:10:07.939 And He says, every single one of these stones is going to fall. 00:10:07.940 --> 00:10:14.380 And then if you jump down to verse 14, He says that this is called the abomination of 00:10:14.380 --> 00:10:15.580 desolation. 00:10:15.580 --> 00:10:16.580 Let the reader understand. 00:10:16.580 --> 00:10:20.220 Now we'll come back to why He uses that language in just a second. 00:10:20.220 --> 00:10:22.660 The other language that gets used there is tribulation. 00:10:22.660 --> 00:10:24.460 What is the tribulation? 00:10:24.460 --> 00:10:28.420 The first thing that He's talking about, this great tribulation, that's the language of 00:10:28.420 --> 00:10:29.700 the first century. 00:10:29.700 --> 00:10:34.140 That's normal language for a Jewish believer in the first century to say, the tribulation, 00:10:34.140 --> 00:10:35.300 the end of all things. 00:10:35.300 --> 00:10:36.380 What is it? 00:10:36.379 --> 00:10:40.500 And the first answer is, it is the destruction of the temple. 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:41.620 So that's what He's talking about here. 00:10:41.620 --> 00:10:48.179 He says, friends, disciples, before you pass away, you're going to see this place destroyed, 00:10:48.179 --> 00:10:49.179 this temple. 00:10:49.179 --> 00:10:51.379 Not every single one of these stones is going to fall. 00:10:51.379 --> 00:10:54.340 And so He's talking first about the temple. 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:58.419 Jesus leaves the temple at the beginning of this passage, verse one, for the very last 00:10:58.419 --> 00:10:59.419 time. 00:10:59.419 --> 00:11:01.899 He'll never come back to it. 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:08.579 And in the previous two chapters, Mark 11 and 12, He battled the Sanhedrin all about 00:11:08.579 --> 00:11:10.500 the theology of the temple. 00:11:10.500 --> 00:11:13.659 He did battle with them, and He tried to help them understand what the temple was really 00:11:13.659 --> 00:11:14.659 about. 00:11:14.659 --> 00:11:20.139 And in Mark 11, He had caused a fig tree to wither and die. 00:11:20.139 --> 00:11:24.699 And He had said, this fig tree is a sign of what's going to happen to the temple. 00:11:24.699 --> 00:11:26.740 So He's been talking about this. 00:11:26.740 --> 00:11:30.779 And now He leaves the temple for the last time, and He says, now, every single one of these 00:11:30.779 --> 00:11:32.419 stones is going to fall down. 00:11:32.419 --> 00:11:36.339 He's talking here about the destruction of the temple, the abomination of desolation, 00:11:36.339 --> 00:11:38.299 where the tribulation is that. 00:11:38.299 --> 00:11:41.179 It's the destruction of the temple. 00:11:41.179 --> 00:11:47.179 Now the disciples, they say, Jesus, look at this place. 00:11:47.179 --> 00:11:51.339 They're sitting on the Mount of Olives 300 feet higher than the temple, looking at it, 00:11:51.339 --> 00:11:52.779 overseeing it. 00:11:52.779 --> 00:11:56.339 From where they're sitting, there's a vantage point, we think, right into almost the Holy 00:11:56.339 --> 00:11:58.220 of Holies. 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:01.899 The temple was a mile wide in circumference at this time, Herod's temple. 00:12:01.899 --> 00:12:03.340 It was enormous. 00:12:03.340 --> 00:12:06.100 And they say, look at these marvelous stones. 00:12:06.100 --> 00:12:11.460 We have from other extra biblical documents, we know that there are stones at the temple 00:12:11.460 --> 00:12:15.820 that are 20 meters wide, 20 meters long, four meters wide. 00:12:15.820 --> 00:12:19.500 I mean, absolutely, in almost 400 kilograms, they estimate some of these stones. 00:12:19.500 --> 00:12:22.019 It was an architectural marvel. 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:26.460 And they're looking at it, and He's saying, every single one of them is going to fall, 00:12:26.460 --> 00:12:27.460 all of them. 00:12:27.460 --> 00:12:29.220 Now, what do we learn? 00:12:29.220 --> 00:12:31.420 First, Jesus was absolutely right. 00:12:31.420 --> 00:12:39.980 So 37 years later, in 8070, Rome came and destroyed Jerusalem and toppled the entire 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:41.980 temple. 00:12:41.980 --> 00:12:48.300 And we have this documented in hundreds of ways in extra biblical literature. 00:12:48.300 --> 00:12:52.900 So let me read to you a quote from Josephus, a historian of the first century. 00:12:52.899 --> 00:12:58.179 He says, Caesar ordered the entire city of Jerusalem and the temple to be raised to the 00:12:58.179 --> 00:12:59.659 ground. 00:12:59.659 --> 00:13:06.059 The entire wall encompassing the city was so completely leveled as to leave future visitors 00:13:06.059 --> 00:13:10.299 to the spot, no reason for believing it had ever existed. 00:13:10.299 --> 00:13:12.459 So Josephus says, this really happened. 00:13:12.459 --> 00:13:16.379 Now, one of the things we can say about that is, what does it mean for us? 00:13:16.379 --> 00:13:21.980 Well, the first thing it means for you today is that Jesus Christ dies. 00:13:21.980 --> 00:13:23.860 There is not a historian that questions this. 00:13:23.860 --> 00:13:28.460 Jesus Christ died by 33 AD at the latest. 00:13:28.460 --> 00:13:32.980 Mark wrote his gospel by 58 AD at the latest. 00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:38.820 This is, evangelical scholars say this, historical critical scholars that don't believe the Bible's 00:13:38.820 --> 00:13:45.180 God's word also all agree that Mark's gospel was written before 68 AD. 00:13:45.180 --> 00:13:48.220 And then Jesus says here, look, you see that place? 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:49.720 It's going to topple. 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:52.460 And in 70 AD, it did. 00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:57.259 The first thing you have to come to this and say is, what is your hope when the world ends? 00:13:57.259 --> 00:14:01.940 Well, it's not Elon Musk's brain chips. 00:14:01.940 --> 00:14:04.100 It's not that the sun's going to blow up. 00:14:04.100 --> 00:14:10.540 No, how about a man who can at least 37 years before it would ever happen tell you that 00:14:10.540 --> 00:14:13.899 something's going to take place in the future and it actually does? 00:14:13.899 --> 00:14:18.460 In ancient Israel, if you're a prophet and you give a false prophecy, you are condemned 00:14:18.460 --> 00:14:19.900 to death for that. 00:14:19.900 --> 00:14:24.620 And he stands here under the old covenant order and says this and it actually comes to 00:14:24.620 --> 00:14:25.620 pass. 00:14:25.620 --> 00:14:26.620 Jesus Christ knows he is God. 00:14:26.620 --> 00:14:28.259 He knows what's going to take place. 00:14:28.259 --> 00:14:30.160 There's no way to get around it. 00:14:30.160 --> 00:14:34.180 If you're here today wrestling with what to think about this man, just know that there 00:14:34.180 --> 00:14:38.460 is no disagreement that this was written prior to 8070. 00:14:38.460 --> 00:14:41.460 So it was either a guess or a prophecy. 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:43.060 And it's the latter. 00:14:43.060 --> 00:14:45.620 Now the second thing to say, what do we learn here? 00:14:45.620 --> 00:14:47.820 How does this matter for us today? 00:14:47.820 --> 00:14:50.540 This tells you exactly what to think. 00:14:50.540 --> 00:14:55.700 Four times in Mark 13, and this is where we're really camp out. 00:14:55.700 --> 00:14:59.740 Four times he says, okay, what do you do with this? 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:02.740 And he says, be on your guard. 00:15:02.740 --> 00:15:06.860 So he says it first in verse three that the ESV doesn't quite translate it like that, 00:15:06.860 --> 00:15:13.380 but it's the same thing in verse three when he says verse four, he says, sorry, verse 00:15:13.380 --> 00:15:16.260 five, see that no one leads you astray. 00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:19.340 That's the same language you'll get later, be on your guard. 00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:22.100 And then you see it again in verse nine, be on your guard. 00:15:22.100 --> 00:15:24.299 Verse 23, be on your guard. 00:15:24.299 --> 00:15:27.659 Verse 33, beyond what we read, be on your guard. 00:15:27.659 --> 00:15:28.659 Stay awake. 00:15:28.659 --> 00:15:33.139 What do you do with teaching about the end of history? 00:15:33.139 --> 00:15:35.059 What do you do with teaching about the end of the temple? 00:15:35.059 --> 00:15:37.980 Well Jesus says, here's what you do, you need to be on your guard. 00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:40.299 Okay, what does that mean? 00:15:40.299 --> 00:15:45.980 Well he's talking here about the image of a soldier, a sentinel standing on a city 00:15:45.980 --> 00:15:46.980 wall. 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:52.700 And he's saying, you need to be like a soldier that stands on the city wall, a sentinel, 00:15:52.700 --> 00:15:58.580 and looks out and looks for the incoming, the spies, you know, that are coming close. 00:15:58.580 --> 00:16:01.500 What's the worst thing that you can do if you're the guy posted on the city wall at 00:16:01.500 --> 00:16:02.500 night? 00:16:02.500 --> 00:16:05.100 The worst thing you can do is fall asleep. 00:16:05.100 --> 00:16:07.940 And that's why at the end of the passage verse 33, he says, be on your guard. 00:16:07.940 --> 00:16:08.940 Stay awake. 00:16:08.940 --> 00:16:10.500 And what is he talking about? 00:16:10.500 --> 00:16:14.139 What are you to be looking for when you're standing on the city wall looking out? 00:16:14.139 --> 00:16:17.539 He's saying, this is the condition of your mind, the condition of your heart. 00:16:17.539 --> 00:16:19.580 You should be awake looking for something. 00:16:19.580 --> 00:16:21.019 What are you to be looking for? 00:16:21.019 --> 00:16:24.980 Now the events of 8070 have already passed. 00:16:24.980 --> 00:16:28.340 He was saying that at their time to them saying, look out. 00:16:28.340 --> 00:16:32.299 So he goes on and says, you know, if you're a mother and you're pregnant or nursing in 00:16:32.299 --> 00:16:35.179 those days, it's going to be really hard. 00:16:35.179 --> 00:16:37.539 Because Rome, he was talking about something very real. 00:16:37.539 --> 00:16:40.460 Rome is going to come and surround the entire city. 00:16:40.460 --> 00:16:43.939 And when you have a baby, it's going to be harder to get out in time. 00:16:43.940 --> 00:16:44.940 That's what he was talking about. 00:16:44.940 --> 00:16:46.340 He's saying, so be on guard. 00:16:46.340 --> 00:16:48.700 Look out when you see signs of this. 00:16:48.700 --> 00:16:49.700 What does he say? 00:16:49.700 --> 00:16:51.020 Fleet of the mountains. 00:16:51.020 --> 00:16:52.700 So he said, it's coming. 00:16:52.700 --> 00:16:55.780 The destruction of Jerusalem is coming. 00:16:55.780 --> 00:16:56.780 Be aware. 00:16:56.780 --> 00:16:59.180 Run to the mountains when you start to see signs of it. 00:16:59.180 --> 00:17:02.340 Hopefully it will not be in winter, he says, because that would be harder if you're going 00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:05.019 to the mountains to hide, to live in the middle of winter. 00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:06.519 It's very practical. 00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:07.519 That's what he's talking about here. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:09.539 But what is he saying to us? 00:17:09.539 --> 00:17:11.539 And here's what you get. 00:17:11.539 --> 00:17:17.099 When you start to read through a passage like this, Mark 13, there is language in it where 00:17:17.099 --> 00:17:21.980 you say, I can see that he's talking about the past, but all of a sudden in the next 00:17:21.980 --> 00:17:25.299 sentence, it's like he's talking about the future. 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:29.099 And it sort of blends together and there's attention. 00:17:29.099 --> 00:17:30.299 And you can see that. 00:17:30.299 --> 00:17:33.940 He's talking about the destruction of the temple, but you come to verse 19, he says, 00:17:33.940 --> 00:17:38.819 but in those days, there will be such tribulation as has not been seen from the beginning of 00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:39.819 creation. 00:17:39.819 --> 00:17:43.740 And you say, but is he still talking about just the destruction of Jerusalem? 00:17:43.740 --> 00:17:47.339 Because there's been lots of cities destroyed, lots of cities leveled. 00:17:47.339 --> 00:17:49.779 This is this kind of thing that's happened before. 00:17:49.779 --> 00:17:55.299 And as you read on, you realize he's talking about something else and it all blends together. 00:17:55.299 --> 00:17:59.659 Now the theologians of history, they've given us language for this. 00:17:59.659 --> 00:18:03.779 And they say, when it comes to understanding what Jesus teaches about the end times, we 00:18:03.779 --> 00:18:09.779 say that some things are now and some things are not yet. 00:18:09.779 --> 00:18:14.579 Some things have already taken place or presently were right in the middle of and some things 00:18:14.579 --> 00:18:18.899 at the same time in this mysterious language he uses are not yet. 00:18:18.899 --> 00:18:20.259 The temple has been destroyed. 00:18:20.259 --> 00:18:23.299 That's in the now it's present, it's over, it's past. 00:18:23.299 --> 00:18:24.299 But what is it? 00:18:24.299 --> 00:18:27.619 He's talking about something that's not yet and you get it down when you by the time 00:18:27.619 --> 00:18:29.539 you get to verse 24. 00:18:29.539 --> 00:18:31.099 And in verse 24, what does he say? 00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:34.180 He says, eventually here's what you need to do. 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:37.099 When the temple is destroyed, he says, that will not be the end. 00:18:37.099 --> 00:18:38.299 Don't listen to the false prophets. 00:18:38.299 --> 00:18:41.180 You say that's then instead verse 24. 00:18:41.180 --> 00:18:46.500 In those days, the days of tribulation, the sun will go dark, the moon will not give its 00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:49.099 light, the stars will fall from heaven. 00:18:49.099 --> 00:18:53.659 Verse 26, you will see the son of man coming with the clouds. 00:18:53.659 --> 00:18:56.579 He's talking here about the second coming. 00:18:56.579 --> 00:19:01.579 Jesus has come once and he's saying here that one day, what will the end be like? 00:19:01.579 --> 00:19:03.740 Jesus is going to come again. 00:19:03.740 --> 00:19:09.180 And he will come with the clouds, that means he will come in the glory cloud that we saw 00:19:09.180 --> 00:19:11.019 in the Old Testament. 00:19:11.019 --> 00:19:14.259 It doesn't mean that when he comes, you'll see a cloud and you'll go up into the clouds 00:19:14.259 --> 00:19:15.259 with him. 00:19:15.259 --> 00:19:16.259 That's not what he's saying. 00:19:16.259 --> 00:19:21.220 He's saying just like in the Old Testament, when God condescended onto Mount Sinai and 00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:28.059 glory cloud, one day Jesus will come back in glory cloud and you will see him and that 00:19:28.059 --> 00:19:29.299 will be the real end of history. 00:19:29.299 --> 00:19:31.779 That will be the beginning of everlasting life. 00:19:31.779 --> 00:19:37.460 And this language about the moon and the stars and the sun falling, this is all Old Testament 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:43.259 language from the prophets about the destruction or the end of current government order, of 00:19:43.259 --> 00:19:45.059 principalities, of powers. 00:19:45.059 --> 00:19:48.059 These are the metaphors that the Old Testament used to describe that. 00:19:48.059 --> 00:19:49.059 And that's what he's saying. 00:19:49.059 --> 00:19:50.059 That's the end. 00:19:50.059 --> 00:19:54.259 Two things he's talking about, the destruction of the temple and his second coming. 00:19:54.259 --> 00:19:55.539 All right. 00:19:55.539 --> 00:20:00.139 That means he's saying to you today. 00:20:00.140 --> 00:20:03.100 It's the Christian call to think about the second coming. 00:20:03.100 --> 00:20:04.100 Do you? 00:20:04.100 --> 00:20:05.740 Do you think about the second coming? 00:20:05.740 --> 00:20:06.980 Do you ponder over it? 00:20:06.980 --> 00:20:09.180 Do you make it a habit in your life? 00:20:09.180 --> 00:20:12.180 To regularly think about the second coming of Jesus. 00:20:12.180 --> 00:20:13.180 That's what he means. 00:20:13.180 --> 00:20:14.180 Be on guard. 00:20:14.180 --> 00:20:17.060 Be like a sentinel looking out and what are you looking for? 00:20:17.060 --> 00:20:19.140 You're looking for the second coming. 00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:20.259 You're awake for it. 00:20:20.259 --> 00:20:21.580 You're longing for it. 00:20:21.580 --> 00:20:22.580 You should be a person. 00:20:22.580 --> 00:20:23.740 We should all be people. 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:29.300 He's saying where you're sitting around, you're daydreaming and somebody comes up and says, 00:20:29.299 --> 00:20:31.379 what have you been doing this week? 00:20:31.379 --> 00:20:32.379 What have you been up to? 00:20:32.379 --> 00:20:33.379 What are you up to right now? 00:20:33.379 --> 00:20:36.099 Looks like you're kind of dazed off and you say, I'm just sitting here thinking about 00:20:36.099 --> 00:20:37.099 the second coming. 00:20:37.099 --> 00:20:38.099 That's what he's saying. 00:20:38.099 --> 00:20:39.099 That's what you should be. 00:20:39.099 --> 00:20:43.139 I'm just daydreaming and longing for the second coming of Jesus. 00:20:43.139 --> 00:20:46.500 Now two ways that that matters today. 00:20:46.500 --> 00:20:49.259 Two ways and we'll do three more next week. 00:20:49.259 --> 00:20:50.259 Two ways. 00:20:50.259 --> 00:20:56.379 The first is that he teaches us here thinking about the second coming directs you away from 00:20:56.380 --> 00:21:04.620 false objects of hope, things that you might attach to and think are the hope of the everlasting 00:21:04.620 --> 00:21:06.740 life that aren't really. 00:21:06.740 --> 00:21:08.220 That's I think what he tells us here. 00:21:08.220 --> 00:21:13.620 You see in verse one, remember he says, the disciples had said these four disciples. 00:21:13.620 --> 00:21:17.500 These are by the way, these four are the original disciples that Jesus first called to follow 00:21:17.500 --> 00:21:22.020 him and they say, Jesus, look at the temple. 00:21:22.020 --> 00:21:23.100 Look at these stones. 00:21:23.100 --> 00:21:25.340 This place, there is nothing like it in the world. 00:21:25.339 --> 00:21:26.459 That was true at the time. 00:21:26.459 --> 00:21:28.619 Herod's temple, nothing like it. 00:21:28.619 --> 00:21:29.619 What does he say? 00:21:29.619 --> 00:21:33.539 He says, every single one of these stones is going to fall. 00:21:33.539 --> 00:21:38.179 I think the first thing Jesus is telling us when we think about the end, about all that 00:21:38.179 --> 00:21:42.939 Jesus has been doing in history from that moment all the way till the second coming, 00:21:42.939 --> 00:21:49.899 is that Jesus was trying to teach us and them right there that you can never put your hope 00:21:49.899 --> 00:21:53.819 in any earthly institution. 00:21:53.819 --> 00:21:57.740 The people of the first century had great hope in the temple. 00:21:57.740 --> 00:22:02.220 This is the center of their identity, the meeting point of the national culture. 00:22:02.220 --> 00:22:04.619 This is the place you go to meet with God. 00:22:04.619 --> 00:22:08.220 This is where you go to be reconciled to God. 00:22:08.220 --> 00:22:14.659 Jesus was saying, every single earthly institution that humanity has ever built is eventually 00:22:14.659 --> 00:22:17.059 going to go away. 00:22:17.059 --> 00:22:21.819 You can never find your hope in anything that humans build. 00:22:21.819 --> 00:22:26.019 For some of us, we do that in political systems. 00:22:26.019 --> 00:22:30.059 We look at the next election and think that this is finally going to be the moment where 00:22:30.059 --> 00:22:32.539 things get better. 00:22:32.539 --> 00:22:35.700 Jesus is coming to say, it's all temporary. 00:22:35.700 --> 00:22:41.500 No earthly institution, no human being, no local church. 00:22:41.500 --> 00:22:44.859 There is not a single local church on earth that is the object of your hope. 00:22:44.859 --> 00:22:45.939 Do you know that? 00:22:45.939 --> 00:22:46.939 No local church. 00:22:46.939 --> 00:22:49.179 St. Caesar's is so great. 00:22:49.180 --> 00:22:52.740 That's been my experience. 00:22:52.740 --> 00:22:56.620 But we of course know that it is not everlasting. 00:22:56.620 --> 00:23:00.660 We of course know, if you know the history, that the church goes up and down. 00:23:00.660 --> 00:23:02.140 Local churches get healthy and then they're not. 00:23:02.140 --> 00:23:03.820 Then they get healthy and they're not. 00:23:03.820 --> 00:23:04.820 That happens. 00:23:04.820 --> 00:23:09.740 By God's grace, we pray that St. Caesar stays healthy. 00:23:09.740 --> 00:23:14.940 There is no person or institution that can ever be the object of hope. 00:23:14.940 --> 00:23:18.100 Jesus was trying to say that here about the temple. 00:23:18.099 --> 00:23:24.899 Some of you today, I've had this conversation with some of you that you're here, but you've 00:23:24.899 --> 00:23:28.179 also been burned by the church in the past. 00:23:28.179 --> 00:23:33.779 You've had a really rough experience with a person or a local institution. 00:23:33.779 --> 00:23:39.059 It's important to hear today that what Jesus is teaching is that the object of hope is 00:23:39.059 --> 00:23:43.939 not in Christians or the institutions they build. 00:23:43.939 --> 00:23:45.740 The object of hope is something much greater than that. 00:23:45.740 --> 00:23:47.139 We're about to see what it is. 00:23:47.140 --> 00:23:49.620 You probably already know. 00:23:49.620 --> 00:23:50.980 Here's one more thing he says to us. 00:23:50.980 --> 00:23:56.020 In other words, he's saying, the second coming, when you think about it, it relativizes every 00:23:56.020 --> 00:23:58.420 single earthly institution that will ever exist. 00:23:58.420 --> 00:24:01.060 The British government is very big and very great. 00:24:01.060 --> 00:24:04.020 It's been around for a long time, but it's not everlasting. 00:24:04.020 --> 00:24:06.540 The monarchies are not everlasting. 00:24:06.540 --> 00:24:07.660 None of it is. 00:24:07.660 --> 00:24:10.820 What the theologians help us to see is this. 00:24:10.820 --> 00:24:13.900 When you think about the second coming, you can use this language. 00:24:13.900 --> 00:24:21.140 It relativizes all earthly temporal powers, and then it fulfills them. 00:24:21.140 --> 00:24:27.660 In other words, you think about the greatest earthly institutions that you love so much. 00:24:27.660 --> 00:24:31.860 Maybe the greatest earthly institution is the family. 00:24:31.860 --> 00:24:33.740 We all long for great families. 00:24:33.740 --> 00:24:35.180 We want to be a part of a great family. 00:24:35.180 --> 00:24:37.540 We want to build a great family if you have a family. 00:24:37.540 --> 00:24:41.180 We want to be within a loving family. 00:24:41.180 --> 00:24:45.900 What this is telling us is that the greatest family that has ever existed on earth, whatever 00:24:45.900 --> 00:24:53.180 family that is, is a shadow of the way that when Jesus comes back, he will fulfill the 00:24:53.180 --> 00:24:55.900 institution of the family. 00:24:55.900 --> 00:25:01.259 One day when Jesus comes, it will be the greatest family that's ever existed. 00:25:01.259 --> 00:25:06.860 He will relativize all earthly families, but fulfill the family when he comes. 00:25:06.860 --> 00:25:08.340 How about states? 00:25:08.339 --> 00:25:14.019 Have you ever longed for a perfect state, a government, a government that will establish 00:25:14.019 --> 00:25:20.019 justice and peace, a government that doesn't demand unjust things from you, a government 00:25:20.019 --> 00:25:23.500 that always gets it right, that always gets it right? 00:25:23.500 --> 00:25:29.220 It's saying that Jesus' second coming relativizes every government that will ever exist and 00:25:29.220 --> 00:25:32.339 says it's important, but it's not important. 00:25:32.339 --> 00:25:36.579 Then fulfills that government ultimately by being the kingdom of righteousness, justice, 00:25:36.579 --> 00:25:37.980 and peace. 00:25:37.980 --> 00:25:40.579 He subverts, he fulfills. 00:25:40.579 --> 00:25:46.819 He tells you that it matters, but not that much because the second coming is coming. 00:25:46.819 --> 00:25:50.099 The kingdom is coming. 00:25:50.099 --> 00:25:56.740 I need to move on, but let me say that he also tells us here, verse 6, many, when the 00:25:56.740 --> 00:26:00.539 temple gets destroyed, he says there's a lot of people that are going to come in that time 00:26:00.539 --> 00:26:05.299 and say, I'm the Christ, the end is here, follow me. 00:26:05.299 --> 00:26:09.980 He says it in verse 21, many will arise in the latter days and say, I'm the Messiah, 00:26:09.980 --> 00:26:10.980 follow me. 00:26:10.980 --> 00:26:11.980 Now that happened. 00:26:11.980 --> 00:26:15.980 We have numerous accounts, first century, second century, third century, extra biblical 00:26:15.980 --> 00:26:21.539 data of people that rose up and said in turbulent times, the fall of the Roman Empire, I'm the 00:26:21.539 --> 00:26:23.419 Christ, follow me. 00:26:23.419 --> 00:26:28.940 He's saying here, no matter what's going on in life, no matter the amount of wars and 00:26:28.940 --> 00:26:33.859 rumors of wars, no matter who stands up and says, follow me, I'm a great leader, I can 00:26:33.859 --> 00:26:39.419 be your hope, implicit Messiahs, explicit Messiahs, there is only one object of your 00:26:39.419 --> 00:26:40.419 real hope. 00:26:40.419 --> 00:26:42.259 There's only one object. 00:26:42.259 --> 00:26:49.859 And the big idea here is that he's saying the temple is coming to an end because Jesus 00:26:49.859 --> 00:26:54.299 is telling them I am the temple. 00:26:54.299 --> 00:26:58.139 Whereas the object of human hope, Jesus is saying it's me. 00:26:58.139 --> 00:27:02.139 The temple is going to be destroyed because the temple is standing right in front of you. 00:27:02.140 --> 00:27:03.980 The temple is the place where you come to meet God. 00:27:03.980 --> 00:27:08.900 The temple is the place where you come to be atoned for your sins, to be reconciled. 00:27:08.900 --> 00:27:14.380 And he's saying that is me, that's here, that there is no earthly object of hope except 00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:15.380 for me. 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:19.860 I'm the only place that you can hope in, ultimately, finally. 00:27:19.860 --> 00:27:21.860 That's what he's teaching us here. 00:27:21.860 --> 00:27:27.900 Now secondly and finally, does that then make us, make a Christian? 00:27:27.900 --> 00:27:31.820 Let's say that somebody, your friend finds you this week, you're at work, you're not 00:27:31.819 --> 00:27:34.939 getting your work done, you're at your desk, they say, what's going on? 00:27:34.939 --> 00:27:38.220 You seem to be lost pondering and you say, well, I'm just thinking about the second 00:27:38.220 --> 00:27:40.299 coming. 00:27:40.299 --> 00:27:43.099 Does that make you an escapist? 00:27:43.099 --> 00:27:44.740 Is it true? 00:27:44.740 --> 00:27:50.379 We're just pilgrims longing for the celestial city and that what we do on earth, we think 00:27:50.379 --> 00:27:55.460 so much, we can become people that think so much about the second coming, we don't matter 00:27:55.460 --> 00:27:57.700 at all to anybody around us. 00:27:57.700 --> 00:27:59.980 Jesus also says emphatically no in this passage. 00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:03.140 We'll see one way now and one way next week that that's true. 00:28:03.140 --> 00:28:06.339 But here it is, here's the principle. 00:28:06.339 --> 00:28:10.539 The more that you think about the kingdom that is to come, the more that you think about 00:28:10.539 --> 00:28:16.420 the second coming of Jesus Christ, actually the more you really think about people around 00:28:16.420 --> 00:28:17.420 you. 00:28:17.420 --> 00:28:23.259 The more you start, in other words, to see people's pain and misery, the more you think 00:28:23.259 --> 00:28:28.740 about human suffering that stands all around you in the present. 00:28:28.740 --> 00:28:31.859 Why is it that people are so into post-apocalyptic stuff? 00:28:31.859 --> 00:28:38.500 I read an essay this week and it was, the author was suggesting that over the past 30 years, 00:28:38.500 --> 00:28:46.660 we have seen almost a doubling every decade in post-apocalyptic film and book publication. 00:28:46.660 --> 00:28:53.660 And he noticed in the essay with that, that there was also a shift in the style of post-apocalyptic, 00:28:53.660 --> 00:28:55.380 the post-apocalyptic genre. 00:28:55.380 --> 00:28:59.100 He said, in the 90s, you had Armageddon, right? 00:28:59.100 --> 00:29:04.340 And the earth was going to get destroyed in Armageddon, but Bruce Willis, we had Bruce 00:29:04.340 --> 00:29:06.860 Willis, he's going to save the day. 00:29:06.860 --> 00:29:09.140 He's going to be our hero. 00:29:09.140 --> 00:29:11.740 That was the old post-apocalyptic genre. 00:29:11.740 --> 00:29:14.820 There was hope. 00:29:14.820 --> 00:29:20.260 Human ingenuity, human power and moxie could really overcome. 00:29:20.259 --> 00:29:26.019 But in the last decade, it's been the bleakest era of post-apocalyptic films and books. 00:29:26.019 --> 00:29:28.379 And in almost all of them, what takes place? 00:29:28.379 --> 00:29:35.259 The government's fall, the internet stops, and the human being is unleashed. 00:29:35.259 --> 00:29:38.059 And everybody turns into a beast. 00:29:38.059 --> 00:29:41.299 And the whole point of every one of those movies is nothing but can you be the last 00:29:41.299 --> 00:29:43.339 one to survive? 00:29:43.339 --> 00:29:44.500 Can you make it in the midst? 00:29:44.500 --> 00:29:46.700 Could you survive the apocalypse? 00:29:46.700 --> 00:29:47.900 That's been the trend. 00:29:47.900 --> 00:29:50.460 And this author asks why, and he says this. 00:29:50.460 --> 00:29:55.700 He says, since the 19th century, when secularism started to take over, there's no God above, 00:29:55.700 --> 00:29:57.940 there's no law within. 00:29:57.940 --> 00:29:59.940 What do you have? 00:29:59.940 --> 00:30:03.940 If the world does start to go that way, if everything goes wrong in your life, what do 00:30:03.940 --> 00:30:06.140 you have except survival? 00:30:06.140 --> 00:30:08.019 There's nothing to hope in. 00:30:08.019 --> 00:30:13.220 All you can do is try to outlive the next guy and use anything that you can to do that. 00:30:13.220 --> 00:30:14.220 He said, that's why. 00:30:14.220 --> 00:30:16.300 It's because of secularism. 00:30:16.299 --> 00:30:19.059 And Jesus comes and says something so different. 00:30:19.059 --> 00:30:25.220 He says, when you see the Son of Man rise from the dead, he's telling his disciples, 00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:30.659 and you realize there is hope in a resurrected ending of all of history, then something's 00:30:30.659 --> 00:30:32.579 going to happen to you. 00:30:32.579 --> 00:30:34.460 What is it? 00:30:34.460 --> 00:30:39.819 When you believe in a land where every single tear will be wiped away from your face, a 00:30:39.819 --> 00:30:45.180 land of justice, righteousness, and peace, it doesn't make you, it doesn't draw you 00:30:45.180 --> 00:30:46.820 away from thinking about the present. 00:30:46.820 --> 00:30:53.539 Instead, what you start to see is people's pain, people's suffering, people's misery. 00:30:53.539 --> 00:30:58.660 When you think that one day there will be a place, well, there will be no more tears, 00:30:58.660 --> 00:31:04.620 a kingdom of justice, righteousness, and peace, it enables you to look at this life and say, 00:31:04.620 --> 00:31:11.580 am I too comfortable right now to realize the true miseries of a sinful world? 00:31:11.580 --> 00:31:12.580 Am I awake? 00:31:12.579 --> 00:31:16.779 Maybe you have a pretty good life and things are pretty easy. 00:31:16.779 --> 00:31:22.579 But thinking about the second coming helps you think, man, there, oh, I should be longing 00:31:22.579 --> 00:31:28.579 for a place where the physical and spiritual miseries of this life are no more. 00:31:28.579 --> 00:31:34.779 And then that makes you awake to seeing how much other people around you are hurting, 00:31:34.779 --> 00:31:37.019 even if they don't say it, even if they don't show it. 00:31:37.019 --> 00:31:42.299 It makes you realize, wow, there is something so much more than this, and it makes me care 00:31:42.299 --> 00:31:44.139 about people more. 00:31:44.139 --> 00:31:49.539 The last way I think Jesus tells us how this works is, what does he say to the disciples? 00:31:49.539 --> 00:31:57.980 He says that verse nine, you're going to be, one day, when all this takes place, he says 00:31:57.980 --> 00:32:01.460 you're going to be persecuted, you're going to be taken up by councils, you're going to 00:32:01.460 --> 00:32:04.819 be imprisoned, you're going to be killed. 00:32:04.819 --> 00:32:11.139 And he said, and he uses the language of actually, you're going to give yourself away in that. 00:32:11.140 --> 00:32:16.820 In other words, how in the world can a person, can these disciples say, I'm willing, I'm 00:32:16.820 --> 00:32:20.820 willing to be taken, I'm willing to be killed for the sake of the gospel, for the name of 00:32:20.820 --> 00:32:21.820 Jesus. 00:32:21.820 --> 00:32:27.940 And the only way you can say that is if you realize that I was made for a different land. 00:32:27.940 --> 00:32:32.660 You know, I was made for a land that is coming in the second coming, a kingdom. 00:32:32.660 --> 00:32:36.580 And that enables me today to say, I will take big risks. 00:32:36.579 --> 00:32:42.819 I will take risks for the gospel, because I know that the person next to me and around 00:32:42.819 --> 00:32:47.539 me is something more than just a blip on the map in this life. 00:32:47.539 --> 00:32:52.259 Actually I realize now that the people I see every day are immortal. 00:32:52.259 --> 00:32:54.179 And so I'm willing to risk myself for them. 00:32:54.179 --> 00:32:58.539 I'm willing to say and tell them the truth about the gospel, because I long for them 00:32:58.539 --> 00:33:01.659 to be a part of the second coming of Jesus Christ. 00:33:01.660 --> 00:33:06.580 Let's close with the words of C.S. Lewis, because he captures this. 00:33:06.580 --> 00:33:11.540 He captures the entire sermon today better than I can say it. 00:33:11.540 --> 00:33:14.300 He puts it like this, this is all of it right here. 00:33:14.300 --> 00:33:19.860 He says, we've got to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person that you talk 00:33:19.860 --> 00:33:29.300 to may one day be a creature which if you saw today, you would be strongly tempted to worship. 00:33:29.299 --> 00:33:36.579 Where else they will be a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a 00:33:36.579 --> 00:33:37.579 nightmare? 00:33:37.579 --> 00:33:39.500 There are no ordinary people. 00:33:39.500 --> 00:33:42.299 You have never talked to a single mortal. 00:33:42.299 --> 00:33:49.339 Nations, cultures, arts, civilization, and institutions, these are mortal. 00:33:49.339 --> 00:33:53.539 Point one, those are mortal, right? 00:33:53.539 --> 00:33:57.460 And their life is to ours like the life of a nat. 00:33:57.460 --> 00:34:01.860 He says, the greatest monarchies of all of history are so short lived relative to every 00:34:01.860 --> 00:34:06.700 single human soul that it's like the life of a nat relative to us. 00:34:06.700 --> 00:34:13.220 He says, but it is immortals with whom we joke, work with, marry, snub, and exploit, 00:34:13.220 --> 00:34:17.820 either immortal horrors or everlasting splendor. 00:34:17.820 --> 00:34:21.579 He's saying that every single person you encounter, every single person you encounter 00:34:21.579 --> 00:34:24.380 is going to live forever. 00:34:24.380 --> 00:34:28.460 And the most ordinary person or the person that you think is the problem with our current 00:34:28.460 --> 00:34:36.260 social order, that person may one day, by the power of the gospel, after having been 00:34:36.260 --> 00:34:42.940 there 10,000 years, have no less days to shine forth God's grace than when they first begun 00:34:42.940 --> 00:34:44.820 on day one. 00:34:44.820 --> 00:34:50.980 Every single person you encounter one day can have the potential to shine the light of God 00:34:50.980 --> 00:34:54.220 themselves in their face in a way that if you looked at it right now, you would be blinded 00:34:54.219 --> 00:34:56.139 by. 00:34:56.139 --> 00:34:57.259 Every single person is an immortal. 00:34:57.259 --> 00:35:02.619 When you think about the second coming, it makes you really care about the people around 00:35:02.619 --> 00:35:05.339 you. 00:35:05.339 --> 00:35:12.099 One thing to do this week, make it a habit to think about the second coming. 00:35:12.099 --> 00:35:14.219 Pray about the second coming. 00:35:14.219 --> 00:35:16.339 Long for the second coming. 00:35:16.339 --> 00:35:19.099 Enfold it into your daily consciousness. 00:35:19.099 --> 00:35:20.739 Make it normal this week. 00:35:20.739 --> 00:35:22.659 And we're going to come back, come back next week. 00:35:22.659 --> 00:35:26.259 And here are three more ways that Jesus drives us to think about this. 00:35:26.259 --> 00:35:27.259 Let's pray. 00:35:27.259 --> 00:35:33.379 Lord, we give thanks today that you are coming again. 00:35:33.379 --> 00:35:39.099 And so we pray the prayer that you taught us at the end of the Bible, come, Lord Jesus. 00:35:39.099 --> 00:35:45.179 And we say that knowing ourselves, knowing the miseries of life, thanking you that things 00:35:45.179 --> 00:35:46.500 are not as bad as they could be. 00:35:46.500 --> 00:35:49.539 There's so much goodness and joy to be had here. 00:35:49.539 --> 00:35:52.179 Yet at the same time, we don't want to get comfortable. 00:35:52.179 --> 00:35:58.179 So we pray that you would help us all to remember that you are coming again with the glory of 00:35:58.179 --> 00:36:00.619 the clouds. 00:36:00.619 --> 00:36:03.059 Teach us what it's like to meditate on that. 00:36:03.059 --> 00:36:08.460 Take us into places as we think about it that we're surprised by this week. 00:36:08.460 --> 00:36:10.179 Enfold these truths into our prayer lives. 00:36:10.179 --> 00:36:15.099 Oh, Lord, give us great desire to meditate on the coming of the kingdom. 00:36:15.099 --> 00:36:17.059 And we pray these things now in Jesus' name. 00:36:17.059 --> 00:36:24.059 Amen.