eternally. To live apart from God is death, it's good His face to see. My refuge is the living God, His praise I long to see. Amen. People of God, let us turn then to our passage for this morning. Mark chapter 13, page 1080 in the Pew Bibles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Mark chapter 13, and this is the lengthiest continued unbroken teaching of our Lord in the gospel of Mark. He says a word, the disciples ask him a question in verses three and four, and then all the way from verse five to the end of the chapter, we have this long unbroken teaching. There is a longer unbroken teaching in the Gospel of Matthew, but in Mark, this is the longest one. So we will take the first part of this morning, verses one through 13. Let us hear the word of the Lord, our God. Mark chapter 13, beginning with verse one. And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, look teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished? And Jesus began to say to them, see that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name saying, I am he, and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place. But the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains. But be on your guard, for they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. and brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved." So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the history of this earth has seen God walk with man, even in perfect fellowship in the garden, has seen God speak to man, sometimes directly throughout the Old Testament history. The history of this earth has also seen Jesus Christ born, God on earth, God become flesh, God who is man. And so Jesus has come, and this is what we read of in the Gospels and in the Gospel of Mark. And so we've seen how this one, Jesus, God upon earth, has had even a time of specific earthly ministry, ordained for this work at the baptism by John the Baptist. He has healed the sick. He has given sight to the blind. He has cast out demons. He has brought order into this disorderly world. He has also taught his disciples. But what happens after? What happens after the one who has descended will again ascend to the heavens? Then what? What happens when we no longer have occasional prophets declaring and writing the revealed Word of God, His Scriptures? What happens when the canon is closed, when the book of Revelation is completed, when the last apostle ordained directly by Jesus Himself passes away? What happens next? This chapter, Mark chapter 13 has sometimes been called the farewell address of our Lord. He speaks to that time. He speaks some words about things that will happen soon after he departs. Verse two is even a specific prophecy concerning one building in particular in the city of Jerusalem and coming destruction. But for the most part, in the rest of this chapter, we see words which are more general. Still some specific applications here and there, but for the most part, after verse 2, it's no longer a specific prophecy about something in the near future, but it's more general words about, I am God and this is what will happen. And there will be words like this in verse 9, that these things will take place, earthquakes in various places, but this is only the beginning of the birth pangs. In other words, some of these things are going to happen to you, but they're going to keep happening. You see, it's very specific in verse 2, but mostly general, sometimes very general and broad speaking in the rest of the chapter after that. This is a farewell address of Jesus. God will no longer be walking among us. He will no longer be bringing order to this disorderly world and giving sight to the blind, those who have been even blind from birth. He is going to depart. He's preparing his disciples for that in a specific way. He's preparing us for that. That he is not on the earth any longer. That he has given us all that we need in his word He gives us his spirit we know from the rest of scriptures. And so we have, broadly speaking, in Mark chapter 13, after that specific prophecy of verse two, very general descriptions of what will come upon us. And in the midst of those general descriptions, many specific commands about how we are to be on the lookout upon what we are to do, how we are to act, how we are to respond. Even especially we see in these first 13 verses that we are called to speak the good news in our decaying world. So those are two points together this morning, the decay of the world, but the commands of the world. What is the decay of the world? We see that especially in three things. First, that the city is crumbling. And that gets at those specific words of that prophecy in verse 2. Do you see these great buildings? They will not, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. Specific prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see the temple was actually coming to a point of magnificence now. We see that in verse 1, right? The disciples are saying, look teacher, what wonderful stones, what wonderful buildings. So maybe you say, wait a second, pastor, I know my Old Testament well. After the first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians and then the people of God returned, the remnant came back and they built the temple. They didn't say, look at this wonderful building. They were in tears because it was not as magnificent as the first temple. So what's going on? What are the disciples talking about here? Well, you see, during the lifetime of Jesus and before and after, there was a great renovation project. The temple was not being completely remade, but sometimes, this renovation was so great, you'll even see reference to the third temple. It's still the same temple, but it's being completely reconstructed, renovated, made glorious again. This is the building project of Herod, who even the religious leaders, such as the Pharisees, who didn't want to have anything to do with Herod. We even have ancient accounts of them saying, yeah, that old fox, he could really build some buildings. It's not exactly according quote, but that's basically what they say. They didn't like this guy, but he sure knows how to rebuild the temple. And then you say, well, wait a second, are we talking about the temple or are we talking about buildings in the plural? Well, yes, both and. It was especially these beautiful white stones, massive stones that were rebuilding, renovating the temple, but then those stones didn't stop at the temple. There was kind of an interconnected building project that also impacted the surrounding buildings. Perhaps some illustration of that is there are some old towns and then the town will give an order that every house in the town has to be built with this particular kind of red roof tile. right and so then you get like this this overview sky photo of the town and there's all these neat red roofed buildings there's towns in europe that you can look up that have something like this right well there is a little bit something like that going on they were rebuilding the temple with these beautiful white stones but then it didn't stop there it was it was becoming uniform it was this One ancient historian called it a mountain of white limestone. Beautiful. It's one of the greatest architectural wonders of all of the ancient world. Beautiful descriptions of this renovation project on the temple and the surrounding buildings. And so the disciples say, look, teacher, what wonderful stones, what wonderful buildings, beautiful, huge white limestones with gold engravings. This is just wonderful, isn't it? Our temple's being restored to glorious beauty again. Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left one stone upon another. specific prophecy. And indeed, the Romans march in to quell the revolt in 70 AD. Titus and his legions, and the stones are thrown down, and the stones are crumbled. And you can still see cracked stones, massive, cracked, overthrown stones in Jerusalem to this day. A couple of applications here. First of all, this is one of those times when, at first glance, something might seem to be confusing. Because remember, wasn't the Second Temple shabby? Like, what are the disciples talking about? Well, upon further inspection, there's a clear and simple answer to that, right? Well, it's being renovated. It is beautiful now. That's just one small application, something we must always remember. There are some difficult questions as we read scripture, and sometimes in the Old Testament, maybe we don't know exactly what's going on, but many times, like here, you do a little digging, you read the rest of scripture, perhaps inform it a little bit with non-inspired history, and we see, oh, there's a very straightforward answer. Holy Spirit never lies. There's always an explanation. Scripture is always true. What about more direct applications? Well, the beauty of a church building is not found in the magnificence of the building. It's found in the faithfulness of its members. J.C. Ryle talked about dens and caves of early Christians holding more beauty than many stately church buildings before or after. And this does not mean that a church should be dirty and shabby. No, let all things be done decently in good order. It's a good thing to clean the church. It's a good thing to put effort into building a church. Those are not wrong things. But at the end of the day, it's the heart which is always the most important. It's the heart of God's people, which defines the beauty or ugliness of a church. That might then remind us of Mark chapter 11, verse 17. Remember what Jesus says there? He was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers and thieves. You see Mark 13 verse two is the sequel to Mark 11 verse 17. Jesus is quoting there from Jeremiah. chapter 7 verse 11. The very next verses in Jeremiah chapter 7, which the scribes knew the Old Testament well, would have known. The very next verses are words about how Shiloh, which was an old place of worship and was destroyed because of the people's unrighteousness, is a picture of how this temple In Jeremiah's day, the first temple would be destroyed by the Babylonians. And so it was, Shiloh was destroyed, the first temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, and the second temple will be destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. This is the sequel to Mark 11, verse 17. Unfaithfulness leads to destruction, sometimes specific prophecy of physical destruction. So there is something specific here. But there's also many more general words. Verses 7 and 8, these are not specific. There are wars and rumors of wars. Do not be alarmed. This must take place. But the end is not yet. In other words, you're gonna hear wars and rumors of wars. I have come, but this was not my coming in glory. We're getting to that more towards the end of chapter 13. You'll hear wars and rumors of wars, but it's not over. The generation after you is gonna hear wars and rumors of wars too, because why? These things are only the beginning of the birth pangs at the end of verse eight. So all these wars, all these earthquakes, all these famines, all the chaos, all the disorder, all of the effects of the curse, which we see in this fallen world, you're gonna see them. But this is not some specific prophecy of verse two. This is my general description. This is my farewell address to you and to all believers who come after you. This is what you live in now. Romans chapter 8 says it this way, also using the illustration of birth pangs and explicitly tying these things to the fact that we live in a sin-cursed world. So Romans 8 verse 20 says, for the creation was subjected to futility. Remember the creation was good. It was very good for two chapters. It was subjected to futility. Not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it. We are the stewards of this earth. It's our sin which threw everything into death and disorder and chaos. But there is hope. Verse 21, that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. There's a great groaning with sin, seen especially in our spiritual need for our Savior to release us from our body of death, to save us from sins, which He does through His death on the cross. But also all of creation together groans with us, all waiting a final redemption and renewal, which is only completed at the last day, at the second coming. The city is crumbling. The world is groaning. Even the family is collapsing. See that in verses 12 and 13? The strongest human ties upon earth. Brother will turn against brother. Father will turn against child. Child will turn against parents. We live in the age of spiritual warfare. And that sometimes means sons and daughters departing the faith and becoming persecutors. That sometimes means parents walking away from the faith and becoming persecutors. Even the strongest ties on this earth are broken. We live in a time of spiritual warfare. The city of Jerusalem is going to crumble. The whole world is groaning and is going to continue to groan. Even families are going to collapse. You will be hated for my name's sake. Hated. There are some things which you can say. There are some things the world will not take disagreement with. But you start to speak about God as creator, you start to speak about God as judge, that there is such a thing as sin and that God is the one who defines what sin is because he's the creator and he's the only one who's perfectly good. Don't say that. In other words, don't talk about anything eternal or important. Talk about superficial things, that's alright. As soon as you start to touch on the things that really matter, the world hates it, and hates you for saying it. I mean, sometimes they might be kind of polite about it, you know, because we live in a postmodern world, so sometimes they're even polite about hating you, right? Well, like, you know, that's true for you, and I'm glad you have faith, but, you know, that's not for me. You know, my truth is this. My truth is something different. First of all, it's not coherent. Second of all, it's not really nice. It's just, look at me, I'm a nice guy and I'm even okay with you having faith. That's your little thing. It's not true for me. It's not really true, but it can be true for you. It can help. No, no, no, no. That's just a hatred in another form. At least they're made in God's image and they're not as blatant about it, but it's really just as insidious. The world hates when Christians speak about the truth of things that really matter, because the world hates God. It's not because they hate you, it's because they hate Christ, and you stand with Christ and for Christ. That's what the world hates. It's a crumbling, groaning, collapsing world at every level. But remember, there's only a few prophetic details here. Verses 9 and 10, those are a little more details again. The disciples really will stand before councils, but that's also broader. That's not as specific as a prophecy of verse 2. That's something which speaks to what Christians do throughout the ages. There are still many persecuted Christians upon this earth. And so what chapter 13 is about is not so much, and let's look for specific details about everything that's gonna happen. No, no, no, there's gonna be wars and rumors of war. That's not specific at all. There's a few specific prophecies about what the disciples will endure, about the destruction of the temple, but mostly this is general descriptions ending with, as we'll come to, the word that no one knows the day or the hour, right? We don't know the details. We only get the broad overview. But what we do get specifically throughout this chapter are many commands in the midst of these general descriptions. William Lane, the commentator, put it this way, the warnings about the future are not the quote-unquote main point. These are something which Scripture has already told us about. The Old Testament speaks about wars and famines. But the main point is this, quote, 19 imperatives, those are command verbs, found in verses 5 to 37. Command after command after command after command. And so that's what we're coming to now. We've done the overview of verses 1 to 13. We've seen this destruction, the city's going to collapse, the world is groaning, and even the family structure itself is crushed. But now we come to the commands, and there are many commands just in these first 13 verses. The first one is in verse 5. See that. Look out that. No one leads you astray. Do not be deceived. Do not be deceived. So this first command in verse 5 is specifically in the context of those who would come claiming to be Jesus. I am He. The parallel passage in Matthew 24 verse 5 says those who come saying, I am the Christ. Now, is there a literal fulfillment of this in the near history of the disciples? Yes, there was even one famous rebel in less than 100 years after this named Bar Kokhba, and he's specifically saying, you know, I am the real Messiah, and I'm going to win that military victory that you were all looking for. Of course, he was crushed by the Roman Empire, killed, died, did not raise from the dead. This also has, again, broad fulfillment. This really applies to any church which becomes unfaithful, any preaching which misrepresents Christ, not only someone who claims to be Christ, but someone who would falsely define who Christ is. This has a very broad application. Do not be deceived. When those would rise up and say, I am he, or those who would rise up and say, look, this is who Jesus is, and then give some false, unbiblical definition of who Jesus is. that they would say that Jesus was just some good moral teacher, but not that he was a good moral teacher who was so much more than that. Also the Savior who had to die on the cross for your sins and bear the wrath of God upon himself for your sake. Do not be deceived. Look to Christ and Christ alone and not false messiahs or those who preach a false messiah. Do not panic. It's the second command in the middle of verse seven, or as it's phrased here in the ESV, do not be alarmed. Do not be alarmed. What is that in the context of? Well, that's in the context of still that false teacher, but also leading into the do not panic and then another command at the beginning of verse nine, be on guard. This is surrounding those general descriptions of the decaying world. Don't panic. There's gonna be disorder, there's gonna be decay, there's gonna be earthquakes. Do not be surprised, do not panic. Do not panic, do not be alarmed, that's the second command, be on lookout. Be on guard. That's the next command in verse 9. And that comes into the realm of persecution. Be on lookout. Persecutors will come. And when they come, do not be anxious. Do you see the next command there? When they come, do not be anxious. The middle of verse 11. And then there's another implied command in these verses 10, 11, isn't there? It doesn't explicitly say speak, it just says the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. That's not even a command, it's just a statement about how things must be and how things will be. Luke excuse me, Matthew chapter 24, again, saying it slightly differently. The summary of Jesus' teaching there says this, Matthew 24, verse 14, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. This is what must happen. This is what will happen. The gospel will be proclaimed everywhere. You see, someone might be tempted when an earthquake comes, you know, the ground is shaking. It's an earth-shattering event. And so someone might be tempted to think in that moment, the very ground is shaking beneath me. The end is coming. No, no, no, no, no. That's something that happened, that will continue to happen. It's something to not be alarmed about. What is a marker that the end might be coming? Well, when a distant nation or a distant tribe or a distant tongue is hearing the gospel for the first time, that's when you could stand and think, maybe this is the end. Maybe these are the last true believers to hear God's word to the very ends of the earth. And don't think the end is coming if you hear the ground shaking. Think the end might be coming if the gospel is being proclaimed to someone who's never heard it before. That's what must happen before the end, and it will happen. The gospel will be proclaimed. What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. That he is the one who died for sins for sinners like you and me and all of God's people wherever they are found throughout the whole earth. That's what must happen. That's what we're called to do. Do not be anxious. Do not be anxious when persecutions come against you. Even in the midst of persecution, specifically, you are called to not be anxious to speak. And in such a specific situation, the Spirit will even be a special guide to you. That's not saying, you know, don't prepare for Sunday school or catechism or preaching. No, that's saying in specific situations of persecution, when something unexpected comes upon you and you must proclaim who I am, I will be with you. I will be with you. You'll be able to proclaim who I am. And don't just proclaim it in the midst of persecution, proclaim it everywhere. That's what will bring the end. Do not be anxious, but speak. And that leads us to another implied command. There are these 19 actual imperative command verbs, and there's other things that are implied. So it doesn't say in verses 12 and 13, endure in a command form, but it's there. It's implied. Endure. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested. And for 10 days, you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death. And I will give you the crown of life, Revelation 2, 10 and 11. Be faithful, endure. There is salvation, there is the very crown of life. So you see people, this is a farewell address of our Savior. Many instructions for what we are to do in the midst of this decaying, crumbling world. especially to preach the good news, the gospel. That will be done. That's what we are to do in the midst of persecution. That's what we are to do to the ends of the earth. That is what will certainly bring the end. Now, when Mark wrote this gospel for the first readers in Rome, Mark was not saying this in some abstract, far-off way. He was recording this to answer the tough questions, questions for Christians who were in the midst of severe persecution. But whether the earthquakes in your life are rare and small or frequent and ground shattering, whether the persecutions against you are overt As Christians thrown into the lion's den in Rome, or whether it's a little more petty, such as the persecution most Americans will endure, or at least have endured up to this time, the commands are the same. Let the gospel, let the good news go forth. and be strengthened, do not panic. Be strengthened and endure in Christ and by his strength. Amen, people of God, let us pray. Lord, our Lord, Help us to proclaim the good news and to be strengthened by that good news. We live in a decaying world, but we serve the God of renewal. We serve you who made everything good who will restore all order when you come again. Lord, give us strength. Give us eyes for you. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Our song of application, let us stand together and sing number 416. Let's go. on history's open page. Our fathers owned your goodness and we their deeds record. And both do this bear witness, one church, one faith, one Lord. Harold brought the gospel to greatest and the least. And this was all their teaching In every deed and word To all alike proclaiming One church, one faith, one Lord lead your work undone. With your right hand to help us, the victory shall be won. And when by earth and heaven your name shall be adored, and this shall be our end, Remain standing for the offering. We will have one of our deacons come forward and bring the basket to the back. And so we come now to our morning parting blessing, and then following that, I remain standing for our doxology 567. People of God, let us hear the parting blessing of our Lord. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise Him above the heavenly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ Amen. Hi. Yeah, now we're talking! Hi. Hi. Hi, Terry. How are you today? Yes. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. I mean, that's fine. I don't even worry about it. Nice to see you. Maybe she doesn't. I'm well. I'm well. I'm well. I'm well. I'm well.