Matthew chapter 24 verses 1 through 51. Let us now hear the word of the Lord. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. And 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 that shall not be thrown down. 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. 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, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 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 namesake. And 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. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days. And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore, if they say to you, look, he is in the desert, do not go out. Or look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the son of man will appear in heaven. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn this parable from the fig tree. When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near at the doors. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready, for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season. Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards, The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we love your word, and we seek to obey your word. And we ask that you would bless us today by helping us love it more and helping us become more obedient to it. Help us to learn here, learn obedience and learn love in an even greater way as we open your word and seek to be instructed by you. We ask your blessing in Jesus name, amen. Well, for, I don't know, a couple of times in the last week or so I've been walking through the woods and looking for firewood usually, looking for things that I could burn. And so I examine this tree and that tree. I'll stop and look at a particular tree for a minute, look up, kind of get its shape, its contour, maybe feel it to see if it is firm and kind of pushes against me a little bit to see if it's dead or alive. So you get a certain perspective once you're inside the forest looking at a particular tree and thinking about that individual tree for whatever reason. If you come out of the forest and you look from the vantage point of my house, you get a different viewpoint of the forest in my backyard. Better still, you get an even more different perspective if I had a drone, which I don't. But if you had a drone, you could send it up above the forest and you could look down on it. You'd get a bird's eye view of things that would help you see things from a broader perspective. Well, we're here in Matthew chapter 24. And what I wanna do today is give you a broad perspective. to give you a bird's eye view of this chapter of Matthew 24. Now, when you heard me say Matthew 24 verses one through 51, Some of you laughed because you know that there's no way Pastor Nick is gonna cover verses one through 51 today, and we're not. But the reason why I read the whole chapter is because we're gonna divide it into sections and we're gonna go verse by verse, word by word, and think about it in great detail. We're gonna look at the individual trees in the forest, that is Matthew 24. But it's also important for us to back out, get the drone up there, so to speak, and look down on it and get a broad general overview of what I believe is going on here in the 24th chapter of Matthew. Well, here we are. It comes to it. No more detours. No, I don't promise no more detours, but we are here finally in Matthew chapter 24. It took us a long time to get here, but now we're here and now we have to give ourselves to understanding it and applying it to our lives. So today we simply want to introduce the Olivet Discourse. Here as we find it, Matthew 24. So we'll start by talking about some introductory things like an outline of the passage. Then number two, we'll talk about interpretation. What kind of things should we be thinking about as we interpret this particular chapter of the Bible? And then number three, we'll talk about our focus. What should your focus be here in Matthew chapter 24? Let's start with the name. You heard me call it just a moment ago, the Olivet Discourse. And the Olivet Discourse here starts in chapter 24. It actually runs through chapter 25. If you look at your Bible, you'll find that Jesus just continues to speak. And that does not end until the end of chapter 25. And in the beginning of chapter 26, we move on from there. But chapters 24 and 25 take place on the Mount of Olives, which is outside of Jerusalem, overlooking the city of Jerusalem. And of course, that's why it's known as the Olivet Discourse, because it is the piece of teaching, the block of teaching that the Lord Jesus gave while seated on the Mount of Olives, instructing his disciples. Number two, let's provide a general outline of the contents of this particular part of the Olivet Discourse, namely chapter 24. Now, when I give you this outline, I will have to lay some of my interpretive cards on the table. So you may find me out right here. Ah, pastor, I know where you're going. I know what you think about this particular chapter. Yes, I may give some of it away in my outline, but I do need to explain why I think we ought to divide the text in the way that I'm going to give it to you. And this is not original with me. So don't be impressed with me. Smarter, godlier men have looked at this passage of scripture and tried to wrestle with how should we think about it? How should we look at it in terms of outlining it? But let's think about the structure of the chapter here. First of all, number one, it begins with Jesus announcement of the destruction of the Jewish temple. Verse one, then Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. And 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 that shall not be thrown down. OK, there is the important background for you to keep in mind. That's what prefaces this entire chapter. And actually, when we get to it, we'll back up into Chapter 23 as well, because Chapter 23 is important for you to keep in mind as we look at Chapter 24. But Jesus announcement that the temple is going to be destroyed is what begins this. Number two. So that's part one, if you will. Part number two, the questions that the disciples ask. Verse three, 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? Okay, so the disciples asked Jesus about what he has just told them, and they want to know about the fulfillment of these things. Now, these questions are key, I think, to understanding what Jesus says in the remainder of the chapter. And so number three, we have the Olivet Discourse proper that begins in verse four, and in this chapter runs to verse 51. Now, how could we divide what Jesus talks about in verses four to 51? I think the simplest way to do it is to look at it in two chunks. The first part, verses four through 35. In verses four through 35, Jesus is dealing with and teaching about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, along with all of the attending events that occur and that culminate in the year 70 AD. So Jesus is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, in verses 4 through 35. The second part, I think, begins at verse 36, in which Jesus teaches concerning his second coming, his return to end the age and usher in the age to come. So that would be in verses 36 down through verse 51. Now we have parallels to this material. in the gospel of Mark, that's found in chapter 13. So pretty much the entirety of chapter 13 in Mark is parallel to Matthew 24 here. And we also have a parallel in the gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 21, verses five through 36. Now, why do I bring that up? I bring that up because I'm going to refer to those places. So there'll be certain spots in Matthew where we're gonna be working on trying to understand what Jesus is saying, what he means. And one of the ways you do this, you try and interpret and understand the Bible, is you look to other places in scripture to fill out your understanding of the place where you currently are. And we particularly want to do that when it comes to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And so we're going to use Mark, we're going to use Luke to fill out our understanding of what Jesus is saying here in Matthew 24. Okay, now let's move on to interpretation. How are we to interpret Jesus' teaching in this chapter? Now we're gonna do this in great detail as we go along. We're gonna go verse by verse, phrase by phrase, word by word to understand what Jesus is saying here. But I thought it important to introduce some important ideas related to interpretation before we get into the details of interpreting this text. So we need to consider the matter of hermeneutics. Hermeneutics. What is hermeneutics? You say, pastor, I don't know what that means. I can't spell that word. I wish you wouldn't use big words. I wish you'd keep it simple. Okay, we'll try to keep it simple. But you do need to know some big words. I mean, if for no other reason than you can impress other people. Okay, no, that's a bad reason. Don't learn big words so you can impress other people. That would be the sin of pride. Don't do that. Okay, scratch that from the record. All right, we all need to know about hermeneutics. And we all do hermeneutics, even if you don't know the dictionary definition of the word. And even if you don't know how to spell the word, we all do it. What is hermeneutics? Hermeneutics is the process or the rules by which we interpret something. And what are we doing when we're interpreting something? We're seeking to understand it. We're seeking to understand the meaning of the thing. In this case, the Bible, the words of the Bible. That's what hermeneutics is about. It's about interpretation and interpretation is about arriving at an understanding of what Jesus means by what he says in this chapter. Now, how important is that? That is of the utmost importance. You could come to Matthew chapter 24, misunderstand, misinterpret, and end up somewhere in left field in a bad place, theologically or practically. And so this is of the utmost importance. And this is why we need God's help. We need the spirit of God to guide us into all truth in the scriptures. We need each other. We need the church to help us understand what scripture means. It's of the utmost importance. Whether we handle this text rightly or not, whether we interpret it rightly or not is of the utmost importance. Let me give you a few illustrations. I am a child of the 80s and the 90s. I think that's the right way to say it. I was born in 1977, okay? And so I grew up in the 1980s and the 1990s. And I grew up in the Pentecostal church, which was dispensational. And there was always this kind of feeling about the church that I grew up in that the return of Christ was so imminent that it was going to happen in our lifetime. You know what I'm talking about? I mean, everybody, I mean, they tried not to go too far. Most people tried not to go too far and say, Jesus is coming back in this year. I just know it. But there were still people who were kind of like hinting, yeah, look at the signs of the times. There's no way we get out of the 80s. There's no way we get out of the 90s until Jesus comes back. And so, for example, this is an egregious example of what I'm talking about. Edgar Wisenant's book entitled, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988. Anybody familiar with that work? Okay, some of you. 88 reasons why the rapture could be in 1988. Well, guess what happened in 1988? Not what Edgar Wisson it said would happen Jesus did not return the end of the age did not commence Or a little more recently many of you probably remember Harold camping Harold Camping made multiple predictions of when Jesus would return. We lived in Greensboro at the time, and they had a big billboard in Greensboro announcing this and being very specific and saying, Jesus is gonna come back in October of 2011 or whatever it was, 2014, I forget when it was. One more example, a little closer even, And I won't mention this man's name. If you want to know who it is, you can come see me later. But he said in a sermon that I heard one time that he believed that the rapture of the church would occur in his lifetime. And when I heard him say that, I said, Oh no, why did you do that? Why did you go there? Why did you put a timeframe on it? Now, he might try to back away from that and say, well, I didn't predict the day or the hour or anything like that. Yeah, but you did. You did. You told us that Jesus was coming back before you would die. That it would occur in this particular time in which we live. Now, one of the goals of mine in this study is to disabuse you. of all such thinking and activity. Why? What's at stake when we start prognosticating and speculating about end time events and the return of Jesus and all of that sort of thing? Something very important is at stake and that is Christian credibility. Your credibility as a believer is at stake. And more importantly than that, the credibility of the Christian faith and of the Bible is at stake. Brethren, do not make predictions about the end of the world or the return of Christ. Do not even hint about it. You do not know, I do not know, and history has proven time and time again that Christians who have speculated that the end of the world may occur in their lifetime have been proven wrong over and over again. Guess what people were thinking in the year 999? That's a long time ago, wasn't it? They were thinking the end would come in the year 1000. Guess what people were thinking in the year 1999? Y2K, right? Some of us are old enough to remember that. What happened when the clock ticked over to the year 2000? The return of Christ didn't happen, obviously. Unfortunately, Christians are tempted to do this sort of thing. And so I warn you, brothers and sisters, this will not be a sensational series. where I make predictions about the end of the world or the timing of the return of Christ, we will do no such thing. And if I hear you do it, you will be on the receiving end of an exhortation. Jesus says here in the text, only the father knows. Look at it, verse 36. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only. If the father is the only one who knows, then you don't know, and I don't know, Harold Camping didn't know, Edgar Wisenant didn't know, nobody does, except the Father. Now, as you may have guessed already, there are different interpretations of this chapter. There are significant disagreements in the history of the church, and in our present day, over how to understand Jesus' teaching in this chapter. So we'll have to work through some of those different takes or understandings of Matthew 24 as we go along. Now, why would I do that? You say, Pastor Nick, sometimes you bring up things I didn't even know were a problem. I didn't even know they were an issue. And now it's just so complicated and I'm unedified. Okay, I realize that is a potential danger. I understand that. But brethren, I want you to be informed. I want you to have understanding of Scripture. And I don't want you to have a surface level superficial understanding of scripture that you understand it in one way and someone comes along and just knocks down the house of cards that is your interpretation. I want you to be as strong in the Bible as you possibly can be. And one of the ways we do that, one of the ways that I think is helpful to do that is lay these things out side by side and say, okay, this group says this, this group says that, and they say this. Let's examine them. Let's look at pros and cons. Let's pick these things apart. Let's be Bereans and see if the scriptures teach this or this or this. What I don't want you to do is what I did when I was a kid. And it's probably what you did when you were a kid too. And no knock on the kids, okay? But when I was a kid and I went to church and I heard the minister in the pulpit or the Sunday school teacher or whatever, I didn't realize that they were teaching me a particular interpretation of things. I just thought, that's what the Bible says, that's what it teaches, end of story. That's all there is to it. Apparently not. And so we grew up and we start hearing other things and we're like, whoa, what's going on here? I never heard that before. Well, I want this to be a church where you hear some of those things so you can arrive at the strongest interpretation of scripture, what we believe is the most faithful interpretation of scripture. And that requires us to deal with things like this. So with that in mind, I'm going to give you a very simple outline of the different schools of interpretation on Matthew 24. Now this could go a lot more detailed, but that might be sleep inducing and we don't want to put you to sleep. So very simply, how do people, how do Christians in the past and today, how do they interpret this passage of scripture? They do so in one of three basic ways. Number one, There are those who interpret this chapter exclusively in reference to the past and would say this chapter is about the fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple that occurred in 70 AD in the first century. That's what it's about. And that is all that it's about. You may have come across this viewpoint. Sometimes it's called the preterist viewpoint, although there are different flavors of that. That just comes from a Latin word meaning the past. Okay, the idea is Matthew 24 was fulfilled in the past, in the first century, namely in the events leading up to and culminating in 70 AD. Number two, there are those who interpret this chapter exclusively in reference to the future. and say, this is not about 70 AD, this is about the end of the world, the end of the age, it's about those events leading up to the return of Christ, the second coming, or what we often call the second coming. So you see, now we're on two different sides, right? We've got those who say, no, this is about the past, and those who say, no, it's not about the past, it's about the future. This would be our dispensational friends who would look at this passage of scripture and say that this is about the end times and the characteristics of the end times, that period of time leading up to and culminating in the return of Jesus to this world. Number three, you know what's coming now, right? We've got past, we've got past, we've got future. What's the third one? It's the mixed view. It's the view that says, well, wait a second. Part of this certainly seems to be talking about the past, but part of this seems to be talking about the future as well. So we think that both are involved here, that there is part of what Jesus is discussing here is the past. But yet we don't think it's exhausted by that. We think that Jesus is also speaking about the future. And so this viewpoint would tend to look at, if you go back to the beginning of the chapter, verse three, it would look at the disciples' question as dealing with two different things. Tell us, when will these things be? That is, the destruction of the temple, and what will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age? That is a different matter. That is what we typically call the second coming, and the end of this world as we know it. The post-millennial and all-millennial schools of eschatology, of end times thinking, tend to fall into this category, although that's a bit of a simplification, and I understand that. And so let me put my cards on the table here again. The position that I will take and defend in this study is that there's a basic division in this chapter, as we already talked about, between verses four through 35 and verses 36 to 51. The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple is in view in verses four through 35 and the return of Jesus and the end of all things in verses 36 through 51. In addition to that, I believe that the things associated with the destruction of the temple in 70 AD point beyond themselves to characteristics of the last days, the period of time between the first and second coming of Jesus. Okay, so I hope that's clear. And we'll go through it in great detail as we get into the passage itself. So for example, we've got more than one thing going on here. In other words, in Matthew chapter 24, that's the position that I'm going to come from. Now, where would we get such an idea? Well, actually the Bible itself would demonstrate that prophecy often has this kind of more than one level. and more than one layer to it. Okay, so let's take an example here. Keep your place in Matthew 24 and let's go back to Matthew chapter two. Matthew chapter two. And I just wanna give you an example of a prophecy of a statement in scripture that has application to or meaning concerning more than one thing. Matthew chapter two. This is Mary and Joseph and Jesus going down into Egypt. Let's start at verse 13. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother to flee to Egypt and stay there until I bring you word for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt I called my son." Ah, that last part is a citation of Hosea 11.1. Now, if you went back to Hosea 11.1, and you ask, what is this about? What does the Lord mean? Who's the Lord talking about when he says, out of Egypt, I called my son. And if you concluded that's about the Exodus, that's about when God rescued his people from Pharaoh and slavery in Egypt and brought them out to belong to him. Would you be right? Yes. If you stopped there and you had nothing else to say about it, you would be wrong. Because that's not the only thing that that's there for. And so when we come to Matthew, we find that Matthew tells us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus coming out of Egypt upon the death of Herod is a fulfillment. And we should say it stronger than that, is the fulfillment, the ultimate fulfillment of what Hosea 11 verse one said. Okay, so hopefully that gives you an example of how you can be reading about something in scripture, and it is about more than one thing. Now, what shall we say about this interpretation business? What should our attitude about it be? Well, first of all, this isn't a free for all. There are good interpretations of scripture and there are bad interpretations of scripture. There are ones that are correct and there are ones that are erroneous. So we're not saying, hey, all these people have different interpretations. We can't understand anything. We can't make sense out of anything. No, we are not saying that about the Bible. There are things that we must be and should be dogmatic about when it comes to interpreting the Bible. For example, does the Bible teach that Jesus is fully divine? Yes, it does. We're not gonna have a debate about it. We're not gonna reconsider the deity of Jesus, nor are we going to countenance another interpretation, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses. No, we reject their position as heretical. So there are things we need to be dogmatic about. and we will be dogmatic about. We will say, this is what the Bible says, that settles the matter, that's the end of it. And it's not just the deity of Christ, it's a whole host of things. But there are other things that are not a matter of fundamental orthodoxy. And we can have differences in interpretation concerning these things. I believe the end times are one of those things. that faithful Christians can disagree over and still be faithful Christians. I believe it's possible to be a pre-millennialist and be a fine, godly believer. I believe it's possible to be a post-millennialist and be of the highest Christian character. I believe it's possible to be an amillennialist, for I are one. and be godly. I believe it's possible to be a dispensationalist and love the Lord. Is it possible to differ on these things? Yes, it is. So one of the things I will encourage you is not to elevate matters related to end times, if you will, to the level of dogmatism. It has to be this way. And if you don't see it that way, you're not even a Christian. And I won't have any fellowship with you. It shouldn't be like that. Now, maybe you grew up with that attitude. Maybe you grew up with the viewpoint, there's only one way to see this, and that's all there is to it. I don't subscribe to that viewpoint, and I'm gonna encourage you to be charitable, kind, understanding, and considerate of your brothers and sisters who see this matter differently. People see Matthew 24 differently. They interpret it differently. I think there's a better interpretation than others. I do think that. But I don't take it to the point of saying, well, they're not a Christian because they don't follow this particular interpretation of the passage. I mean, you may leave here one day and go to another church, and that pastor tell you that Pastor Smiley was all washed up, that he didn't understand Matthew 24 at all. Maybe he's right. We'll see. Time will tell. The proof's in the pudding. But we can differ over these things and still be charitable with one another. Bishop Ryle, who you're reading hopefully in your devotional book, puts it this way, quote, all portions of scripture like this ought to be approached with deep humility and earnest prayer for the teaching of the spirit. On no point have good men so entirely disagreed as on the interpretation of prophecy. On no point have the prejudices of one class, the dogmatism of a second, and the extravagance of a third done so much to rob the church of truths which God intended to be a blessing. Now, with that being said, we are going to seek to understand. We're going to pray and ask the Lord to guide us. I'll be doing that. I hope you'll do that. So we're not going to just throw up our hands and say, well, there are many interpretations of this passage who can know I quit. I give up. That's the lazy way out. I'm going to make you work harder. I'm gonna work hard and I'm gonna make you work hard with me. So you're gonna have to go home, look through your closet and find your hermeneutical thinking cap. You say, I don't have one of those. Okay, we'll have to buy you one. We're gonna have to get you one. You're gonna need to bring it with you so that you can really think long and hard about how to interpret what Jesus is saying here. All right, I know we're almost out of time. We are out of time, but let's just cover this last part quickly. What should our focus be here as we approach Matthew 24? Well, let me first say what our focus should not be. I do not believe that our focus should be the time element. Jesus will speak of time. Obviously he will. And there is a timeframe for what he's talking about here. But I do not think that's the most important thing because it is admittedly difficult to figure out without any problems whatsoever, without any objections, exactly the timing and sequence of these things. And you'll see some of the problems as we go through it. So that is not the most important thing. It is important. But it's not the most important thing. What then is the most important? What I will emphasize are the spiritual lessons that are here in this text. The truths that Jesus teaches that you must believe and that you must live by, even if you don't get all the end time stuff figured out. Even if you don't have a chart, at home on your wall that says this occurs here, then we've got this and then that happens there and so on and so forth. You may not have that when we get done, but what should you have? Number one, a lesson about deception. Verse four, and Jesus answered and said to them, take heed that no one deceives you. There's the imperative that the discourse begins with. Do not allow yourself to be deceived. Is that not practical? That is practical. It was practical for the disciples in the first century, and it is still practical today in the 21st century. There are a whole host of religions and deceivers and false teachers and false prophets in the world. What should you do? You should make sure that you don't get deceived by them, that you don't get drawn in and led astray, but that you're a discerning Christian, that you are a biblically focused Christian, so that you're not tossed here and there about with every wind of doctrine. As Paul says, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. Lesson number two, endurance. Jesus teaches us here in this chapter about the need for endurance. Verse 13, but he who endures to the end shall be saved. How important is it for you to persevere as a Christian? There are many people who begin and do not finish. There are many people who start, they make a profession, and then after a while, they fall away. You must not do that. No matter what the difficulties, the obstacles, the issues are that you face, the trials and the temptations, you must persevere. And you must not tell yourself, it's okay if I don't persevere, I'm still saved. You must not tell yourself that. You must say, I must keep going. I must endure through trial and temptation and continue to follow Jesus every day. Number three, Jesus teaches us here about the reliability of his word. Verse 35, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. We may not come to a perfect understanding of Jesus' words here in Matthew 24, but what we can come to a perfect understanding of is that his word is reliable and trustworthy. My grasp of it may not be a hundred percent, but what I do know is I can trust him. I can take his word to the bank and know that it will come to pass, even if I can't figure out how it's all going to come to pass. Can you trust Jesus? Yes, you can trust Jesus. Can you trust his word, which is recorded for us here in Holy Scripture? Yes, you can. And yes, you must. Fourth and finally, Jesus teaches us here about the need for faithfulness. This is what he will focus on and emphasize at the end of this chapter. Verse 42, watch therefore, for you do not know What hour your Lord is coming, verse 44, therefore you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. And then finally, verse 45, who then is a faithful and wise servant? That's what you want to be. You want to be a faithful servant, consistent, dependable, obedient, holy. That's what you want to be like. So even if you don't get all the end time stuff, and even if you're like, wow, I'm gonna have to rethink this now, and I'm not sure how to put all this together. That's okay. I think that's okay. We ought to work hard at it. We ought to arrive at a position. I have one, I'm gonna encourage you to have one, the most biblical one possible. But if we miss this, Well, we've missed the whole thing. We've missed the most important thing. If we've got charts upon charts and we can explain to everybody exactly the sequence of events leading up to the end, but we're not obedient. but we're not loving God and Christ and our neighbor. If we're not living in such a way that we would be ready and joyful to see Jesus if he showed up unexpectedly, we've missed it. And that's what I have to make sure you don't miss. We may be tempted, you know, to just have friendly, hopefully, conversations about Matthew 24. You might say, Pastor Nick, you are all washed up. I know what this chapter means. Let me enlighten you. Or I'll turn you on to brother so-and-so or pastor so-and-so and he'll straighten you out. He'll get you fixed up. If we do that, but we don't come away from this chapter thinking, I must be faithful. I must be faithful in every area of my life to God. I must be faithful in following Jesus day in and day out. Then we've gone astray. We've missed the point. So don't miss it. Okay, thus we bring our little overview of this chapter to a close. I hope that this brief introduction helps set the stage for what's coming, gives you a broad level understanding of what we're working with here, and I hope it stirred some excitement in you too. I'm excited to study this passage of scripture and present it to you, and I hope you're excited to learn it alongside the people of God. So may the Lord give us grace, may he give us understanding, and may he give us zeal to know and apply his word and be found faithful servants. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this portion of your word. It is a light to our feet. It is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. It illuminates our way. We need understanding, and so we pray for it. We pray, give me understanding and I shall keep your law. We ask, Lord, as we go through Matthew 24, open our eyes that we may see wondrous things from your law, that we might behold wonderful things that you might give us fresh and accurate understanding of the word of God. But most of all, Father, we ask that you would work in our hearts and help us to be the kind of servant that Jesus described here at the end, a faithful and wise servant. Oh, that is a tall order. And we need your grace and your spirit to do that. And so we pray that you would bless this study, this series of studies, that we might come through it, and on the other side, be a more faithful and wise servant of Jesus Christ. We'll thank you for it, Lord, and we pray all things in Jesus' name, amen. As you leave today, may grace be with you, amen.