Take your copy of God's word once more this day and turn with me to the book of Matthew. Matthew, chapter 24. Matthew, chapter 24. Matthew, chapter 24, in verse 12, hear now the word of the living God. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. This is the word of the living God, and we say, thanks be to God. Amen. Please be seated. Let's pray. Living God, we ask your blessing now on the preaching of your word. We pray that we may be sober-minded, and yet abounding in hope. We pray that once more this day, the voice of our precious Savior would be in our ears through the preached word. We ask for the conviction and comfort of your spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. Brothers and sisters, I want to speak to you tonight about the end times. I want to talk about the last days. I want us to consider what many people speculate about quite a bit in their Christian life, and that is the end of days, the last days, the end times. But perhaps when you hear that, you might begin to think what we're going to talk about tonight is when Jesus is going to come back. Will there be a millennium? Are we in the millennium? Yes. Are there going to be antichrists that come? But actually, I want to talk about a view of the end times which Jesus gives us. On a walk one day beside the temple with his disciples, Jesus foretold a solemn reality to come in the last days. In chapter 24, you begin to pick up the story. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. Jesus said to them, Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another. It shall not be thrown down. Then in verses 3 through 14, Jesus gives some signs of the last days. Now, if you read those verses closely, you will see that Jesus is essentially describing the time between his resurrection and his second coming. Now, I commend to you our previous study as a church in the book of Revelation and elsewhere to get a fuller treatment of this, but suffice it to say the last days are the days in which we live. They are those days between the resurrection and ascension of Christ and his second coming. Every believer since Christ ascended has been living, as it were, in the last days. Jesus, in this Olivet discourse, because it's given on the Mount of Olives, teaches that there are going to be two sets of events, one near set and one far off. The bottom line in his teaching is that Jesus is addressing the destruction of the temple, which would happen soon, 70 AD, the exact one generation after his death. But another event which would be from our vantage point much further off and yet all still a part of the last days and that would be His second coming. Notice what He says in verse 3, now, as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying, tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered and said to them, take heed. that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Sounds like our day. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Sounds like our days. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. Sounds like the days in which we live. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations for my sake. Then many will be offended, will betray one another and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come. Jesus is addressing what will happen soon. Compared to the time in which he lives, the destruction of the temple, the end of Judaism as they knew it. But that period of time where there will be cycles of wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and pestilences. People apostatizing, people bringing persecution against Christ's people. And then the end will come. But I want to talk to you about one particular detail in the last days. Verse 12. And because lawlessness will abound. The love of many will grow cold. Well, let's look at this verse, keeping in mind the background of this text. Jesus and his disciples are leaving the temple and they point out the glory of this temple as if their teacher didn't know it. They point to this great temple and Jesus, in effect, says it will be destroyed. He says, not one stone will be left here upon another. The first century historian Josephus describes these stones as being big stones that were 37 feet long, 12 feet high, and 18 feet wide. The temple complex took up about one-sixth of the entire city of Jerusalem. No wonder the disciples stood at it and gazed in awe. But Jesus' prophecy in verse 2 comes true, for there was a great war. AD 66 to AD 70. And at the end, the temple was destroyed. So the disciples ask, when and what will be the sign of your coming? So the entire context of this passage is the fact that the disciples were focused on this building and the false assumption that the destruction of the temple happens at the same time as the end or Jesus's return. See, the disciples were used to the temple in Jerusalem being central. This passage focuses on the temple's destruction as God brings judgment on Israel, there would be no more temple for Jesus is the new and complete temple. So what does he say then in verse four? You want to know about the last days, disciples? He says, verse four, take heed to yourselves. Take heed that no one. No one deceives you. So then in verses 5 through 14, we're given a history between Christ's resurrection and his return. So let's talk about the last days, the end times. The reality that perhaps is the most startling to all of this text is not the earthquakes and the wars, although that tends to be what we focus on. It's not the timing of his return, at least not in this particular text. Perhaps what ought to jump out at us most is verse 12. The love of many Christians will grow cold. Any discussion of the last times needs to remember, needs to involve Jesus' teaching in the Olivet Discourse, the teaching of the apostles, and specifically the warnings of the book of the Revelation. Any discussion about the end times needs to involve the call to persevere. Let's consider one reality then. In the last days, the love of many will grow cold. What is the cause of the love of Christians growing cold? Jesus tells his disciples, and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. From the time of his resurrection in cycles, in varying degrees, perhaps sometimes in great number, and then at other times in small numbers, there will be people whose love will grow cold. And the cause will be the lawlessness of many abounding. What is this lawlessness? Well, we could, at the first glance of it, think, well, the word lawlessness means sin. So sin in the world will abound, and so the love of many will grow cold. And I think that's a good interpretation. But actually, Jesus' teaching here in the surrounding verses helps us to see the kind of lawlessness that will abound. Look at verse 9. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. Part of the lawlessness that will impact the love of believers for their Christ and for one another is the constant tribulation that comes their way. They will be hated by the world. And for some of them, it will cause their love to grow cold. Look at verse 10, another kind of lawlessness. And then many will be offended. We'll betray one another and we'll hate one another. Imagine that. Christ's church being persecuted from the outside and in various periods and in various ways for the last 2000 years, being a people that can be offended, betraying one another and eventually hating one another. This is part of the reason for the love of Christ's people growing cold. Discord among many believers. We have one example in the life of the Apostle Paul. You can turn there if you want or just listen, but in 2 Timothy 4, 2 Timothy 4, in verse 10, we read this. Paul tells Timothy, be diligent to come to me quickly, for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world and departed for Thessalonica. Demas is someone who appears in the book of Colossians and is a close helper and disciple follower of the way, and now he's forsaken Paul and likely it seems the faith. You see, between Christ's resurrection and his return, there will be varying degrees of persecution from the outside and varying kinds of discord among believers on the inside. And this will cause believers' love to grow cold. Are you perhaps weary of persecution from the outside? Or are you weary of discord on the inside? And is it possible That as Christ has prophesied, your love has cooled. Your love has grown cold. But there's another kind of lawlessness that will contribute to the cooling of the love of Christ's people. Look at verse 11. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. In addition to persecution from without and discord from within, there's false teaching or a lack of solid teaching. Do we not see this in our day? Are you not weary, beloved, as you look and you survey the scene, asking yourself, Lord, when will you rid your church of false teaching or when will you rid your church of shallow teaching? Paul seems to be concerned about. False teaching. When he writes to the church at Thessalonica, 2 Thessalonians 2 3, let no one deceive you by any means. Let no one deceive you by any means. For that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped. Don't be deceived. by false teachers, one who will eventually rise, or many who will rise and literally be opposed to Christ. So the first thing that we see in this discussion of a reality in the end times, the love of many growing cold, is the cause. What is the cause? A variety of kinds of sin. Attacks from the outside. Discord and hatred on the inside. and the lack of true teaching, which inflames proper love for God. That's the cause. But secondly, notice the diagnosis. What is the diagnosis? What's the problem? Well, Jesus tells us, and we've already read it, the love of many will grow cold. The great physician, the Lord Jesus Christ, is giving a diagnosis. He tells us the cause, and now he says, here's the diagnosis. Many in the church will have love that is grown cold. What does this mean for love to grow cold? Variety of commentators will give you a variety of answers, but they're all pretty similar. Matthew Henry, for instance, says it's the following to understand it in general of true, serious godliness, which is all summed up in love. So Henry's take, and I think he's right, is that ultimately godliness will grow cold, which is ultimately summed up in love. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Godliness waxes and wanes. Matthew Poole, another Puritan in the 1600s, says that love is, quote, the holy fire which God hath kindled in good souls. Surely none of this room this evening. Could relate to this, of course, we are immune to this, but others in the fold of Christ's sheep pen. Maybe those. Whose love has grown cold. a lack of serious godliness, a falling away of that holy fire which God has kindled in human souls. John Gill, writing about a hundred years later, says that this verse means love to Christ, to his gospel, and to the saints. You see, they're all very similar, aren't they? Love growing cold means that expressed love for God, godliness, honoring his ways, growing in his truth, and love for his people. will grow cold. That's the diagnosis. The cause? All kinds of lawlessness. So a question to ask this evening is this, has your love for Christ or for his people grown cold? When Jesus had a teaching opportunity at the temple to talk about the end times, he focuses more not on the timing, but on the realities of things that will happen both outside and inside his fold. We would do well when we think of the end times to consider the warning. Yes, there will be tribulations, there will be persecutions. Revelation teaches us about a beast, a false prophet, a dragon, bulls, trumpets. But among all things, the book of the Revelation tells me to persevere and to conquer into the end. So every time discussion of the end times comes up, I ought to be thinking to myself, do not let my love grow cold. Because that's what was on Jesus's mind when he talked about the end times. So has your love for Christ or for his people grown cold? Now, you may say, well, I don't know. How do I, how do I know? Well, let's go back up to the causes for just a moment in verse nine. Has the world and its persecution made you weary? To the point that even though you are not risking life and limb to live for Christ, you do have a subtle pressure from the world to be fitted into its mold. Such that increasingly you find yourself less likely to want to identify as a Christian in your workplace. Oh, you're not being persecuted by knife, gun, or sword, yet, But someone looking at you as that little girl looked at Peter outside the courtyard of the high priest's house and says, you're with him, not me. That is a sign that perhaps your love is cooling. Or verse 10 gives us another cause, discord among believers. Sometimes it's possible that there may be deep and searing abandonment among the people of God. People that you know and love begin to actually do what Jesus says here, hate you. But it could very well be that the kind of betrayal or offense that we see that contributes to love growing cold is the more subtle. You just grow less and less and less prayerful for Christ's people. You grow more and more insular, and so you don't really want to be around Christ's people. They're not really people that you hate. It's just you're tired of Christ's people. I mean, after all, they're sinners. Or maybe you have so much going on in your life That the thought of other Christians actually doing what the New Testament calls them to do in your life is just too much. So there is discord. Many will be offended. Some will be offended because of persecution from without some, perhaps within there will be betrayals. Maybe we could modernize it a little bit. Verse 10, there will be hurt feelings and there will be church splits. And this has a way. Of pouring water. On burning hot fire. Maybe that's you, maybe that's where you're at. Or how about verse 11? False teaching. Now, hopefully we don't have false teaching in this pulpit from the men who preach here. But we are told by Jesus that many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. There will be overt false teaching. But maybe in your case, there's not overt false teaching. It's just so much that you've kind of grown accustomed to the word of God in such a way that There's just less biblical intake and desire in your life. It's not so much that you've gathered around yourself teachers which will tickle your ears. But perhaps it's good teaching. That doesn't really go into your ears anymore. How do you know if your love has grown cold? Well, ask yourself of these kinds of assaults that will happen on Christ's church. Have I been impacted by any or all of them in such a way that it is said of me that, quite frankly, my love for Christ and for his people have grown cold? Now, what you need to know is that love is not an emotion. It involves emotion, but it is very possible. to be deeply, deeply depressed and yet have a warm, hot zeal of love for Christ. It's more challenging, perhaps. But while love does involve emotions, that's not what Jesus means. We think of it that way. In fact, maybe I'm asking you that question and you think, oh, well, I don't really have tears in my eyes like other people do when they talk about Jesus. I don't feel as much. Maybe my love has grown cold. Well, it's possible. Emotions have been given to us by a good and wise creator, but they are more like helpful warning bells. They are not love itself. Some of us are very emotional people. Some of us are less emotional. Jesus doesn't have in mind here a pure emotion. What he has in view here is a lack of commitment to him, to his ways, to seeking his name and his glory, and in caring for his people. Well, he's given us the cause as well as the diagnosis. But brothers and sisters, let's look thirdly and finally at the cure. Jesus says then in verse 13, but. You know, there are certain words in Scripture which means so much justification, propitiation, covenant, savior. But I've really grown to love that little three-letter English word, but. It shows up in the best places in the Bible. For instance, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 3, we get our sinful resume, our CV. There it is. Here's how horrible we are. Dead in sin, Ephesians 2, 4. But God, who is rich in mercy. Here is another one of those moments. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold, but. cling to that. There's hope here for yourself and perhaps for other believers whose love has grown cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. In our text itself, Jesus tells us that the first cure, really, to our love growing cold is to endure. To endure in the faith to the very end, to press on, to take gospel hope, whether we feel it or not. But let's go to two other places in scripture that are in concert with our text for the cure of cold love. The first, as we see in Matthew 24, is to continue to endure, to persevere. But let me give you a second. Paul prays about this in the book of Philippians. In Philippians, Paul prays in the following way. You remember what he says in verse 6 of Philippians chapter 1. It's almost as if when Paul thinks about the end times, the day of Christ, what does he think about? how our lives should be now. Sounds like what Jesus is teaching. But notice what he says in verse 9. He prays for the Philippian believers and he says this, And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in all knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. You know, if Philippians chapter 1 verses 9 through 11 would be a great passage to pray when you don't know what else to pray. For yourself or for others, Lord, I pray for this adult child who has walked away from the faith. That you would cause their love to abound in knowledge and discernment, that they may begin again to approve of the things that are excellent, that they may be sincere and Lord, that they may be without offense from now on till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ. I'd love to I'd love to preach Philippians chapter one right now. Fruits of righteousness come from whom? Jesus Christ. But notice. One of the cures for cold love is growing in knowledge and having that knowledge begin to be put into practice, wise practice known as discernment. Again, notice what Paul says. I'm praying that your love may abound, still more and more, in knowledge and all discernment. You see, Jesus says one of the things that is going to draw his people away from loving him And his own people is false teaching. Paul prays, I want you to grow in what? True teaching, love. That you may begin to not only know facts, but that you may begin with discernment to make more and more wise decisions. So what's the cure? Number one, Jesus will say, endure to the end in Matthew 24. Number two, Paul will say, pray that your love may grow in knowledge and discernment. actually ask the Christ who saved you to rekindle your cold love. Perhaps there's at least one other cure for cold love given to us in the Bible. But it comes in a warning passage. Jesus will tell one of his churches in the book of the Revelation. That there's a problem with their love, Ephesians chapter, excuse me, Revelation chapter two. Verse four, this is to the Ephesian church. Notice what Jesus sends his angel of the Church of Ephesus to say. First, they're commended. You have tested those who say they are apostles and not and have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary. Ephesian church in the first century and every church like it down through the ages who follows their pattern. Good for you. You've worked. You've been patient. You've endured. You've not given in to false teaching. But look at verse four. Nevertheless, I have this against you. Jesus writes to the seven churches, and they were literal seven churches in the first century, but they are pictures of churches down through the ages. So there are churches of Ephesus today. There are churches of Laodicea and Sardis, Philadelphia today. So Jesus says to them all, nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent. And do the first works. Or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. You see, Jesus speaking. 40 to 50 years after his sermon to the disciples in Matthew 24, writing by way of the angel of the church to Ephesus, tells the church that they need to return to their first love. They need to repent. They need to remember. Brothers and sisters, if the cure for cold love is to endure, to press on, to pray that God would rekindle our love and to repent and remember where we've fallen from. Where have you fallen from if you've lost your first love? Well, you've taken your eyes off of the glorious Savior who spread his arms wide and died for you. You've forgotten that it's the Savior that has completely remade you, that you are a new creation in Christ. You've forgotten, perhaps, that he put his Spirit in you and awakened you and gave you new life. You forgot that every single blessing comes from his hand. You've forgotten that all of the people around you in his church are actually gifts to you. They may run you the wrong way, but they're Christ's gifts to you. You've forgotten that you're heaven bound and that this is not your home. You've forgotten that his very word is your food. We could go on and on all night. Remember, therefore, from whence you have fallen, if your love has grown cold. Jesus teaches his disciples when they're very curious about the end times. Lord, when will this happen? What will the timing be? When will you come back? What does Jesus say? Don't grow cold in love. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got that part, Lord. But what about the timing? Don't grow cold in love. OK, yeah, we hear you, Lord. But just tell us, is the millennium here or there or everywhere? Don't grow cold in love, which will be caused by all manner of sin around you. They're going to persecute you from without. There's going to be discord from within. This is going to cause you to lose your love for Christ and for his people. There's going to be false teaching everywhere, heresies, which will tear the church asunder. And because of this, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved. As your love for Christ for his church, grown cold. Endure, looking to the gospel hope that you have. Pray like Paul prays in Philippians. Hear the words of Christ to the church of Ephesus. Remember from where you've fallen and return and repent. Matthew Henry, the Puritan, commenting on this text. writes very helpful words. He says this regarding the love of many true believers. But let's say it this way. He says this about your love. Quote, this love is grown cold, but not dead. It abates, but is not cast off. There is life in the root, which will show itself when the winter is past. The new nature may wax cold, but shall not wax old, for then it would decay and vanish away. Oh, beloved, maybe you are in a season right now as Christ's child. You're in a winter, as it were. I don't mean Christmas. I don't mean Thanksgiving and New Year, I mean, you're in the cold of winter. And the Christ who says that the love of many will grow cold is the Christ who actually sustains your faith. And he can very much call you. To persevere, because it will be him by his spirit who perseveres you. So maybe your prayer this week ought to be, O Lord, bring the rays of the warmth of spring and summer to the winter of my soul, which has grown cold. Blessed Savior, do not let me stay here any longer. Help me, O Lord. heat within me that pure root of saving faith again, that I may love you in zeal and godliness, and that I may cherish your people, fellow people for whom you have died again. Brothers and sisters, until we are all with the Lord and the blazing heat of his glory is our forever experience, there will be winters. In fact, when Jesus is teaching his disciples because they ask about the end times, he says, the love of many will go cold. But this Savior says lovingly. To any who are in this winter that Matthew Henry describes of cold love. The Savior says, endure, return, repent, Do the works of your first love again. And if the living Christ can bring life to dead souls, he can bring health to sick ones. Let's pray. Living God, we ask that you would help by your mercy and grace those whose love for Christ and for his people may have grown cold. We pray that you would enliven us again, bring us out of this winter season if it's where we are. We thank you that with you there is tender forgiveness. And that you, Lord Christ, who saved us, will sustain us and continue to heal us. Protect this particular church from the sin of Ephesus. Help us, oh Lord, not to forsake our first love. Keep us from cold love. Fan the flame by your spirit, we pray, of Christ honoring love again. In any heart that needs it, we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.