Sermons

Matthew 24:1-14 – Winning the world at its worst

Intro: Understatement, that concern for our country is high.

Why, God and Government this evening.  

[READ text]

• “Will candidates for 2024 election cycle promise any real comfort?”

 

• Recapturing the good old days, more and more, feels spurious.
  • Matthew 24, introduces a wider scope of future reality.
  • A world scale, dramatic vision of world digression.

 

• “Is this promising?” “It actually can be…”
  • Answering how increased pressure works in the Christian’s favor.
  • Answering how we can respond considering digression of this magnitude.

 

• Common Responses: depression, anger, woe is me, or being laissez-faire.

 

• 80’s REM hit, “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine” no longer seems appropriate.
  • Coming election rhetoric on either side of aisle will not feel fine.
    • “Are Xians supposed to gloom and doom?”
    • “Is it ok to live inside a neutrality bubble?”

 

• Instead, X in Matt. 24 [final sermon] calls Xians into a wartime mindset applied as evangelism.
  • Signs of the times, going bad to worse, become: Warnings to Win People.
    • Every sign, every warning, an opportunity to win others to Christ.
      • Winning a world that’s getting worse.
      • Winning nations, not just our United States.

Question: “Where in this text does X call Xians to win the world?”

• Verse 14 assumes “…the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations” and this is the final curtain.

 

• Verses 29-31, assures @/X’s immediate return, @/end of tribulation, X calls “his elect” gathered from one end of the world to the other.

 

• Verse 35 affirms X’s “words”, all else will pass away, but not X’s “words” (v. 35).

 

• Verses 36-51, not knowing day or hour, X’s return (compared to Days of Noah), one left and one taken, one kind of person, a servant who is said to be awake, wise, faithful, blessed (vv. 40-50), others “cut in pieces” (v. 51), picturing eternal Hell.

 

• Chapters 24-25 bring people to the crossroads.

 

• 25:13; 29-30; 45-46;

 

• 26 (narrative).

 

• All pictures of warning, w/intent to win the lost.
  • What do you think the faithful worker is doing? (see Mt. 24:46).
  • He, (like Noah) warning and winning people to Christ w/his life.

 

[TRANS] Every warning is an opportunity to win people to X.

 

Prop: 5 opportunities to win the world at its worst

1. False Saviors (vv. 1-5)

Verse 1 context: X preaching on Temple steps (cf. Matt. 23); hard 7 woes.

• Ends route @/false teachers w/lament over Jerusalem (cf. Matt. 23:37-39).
  • Jerusalem was unwilling to repent.
  • Unwilling to be gathered up by Christ.

[TRANS] Now fickle faith (X’s disciples) reappears.

• X left temple and a day dreamer blurts out how beautiful the temple is (v. 1).

^ESV  Mark 13:1 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!" (Mar 13:1 ESV)

• Easy to forget what just heard X say.
• Why repeat visits church.
  • Flesh blinds.
  • Stir up by reminder (cf. 2 Peter 1:13).
  • Look into mirror of the Word of God.

 

• X just cleansed inside temple, 2/3 days before.
  • Indict internal corruption.
  • No matter external beauty. (see, Matt. 23:25-27; “clean outside cup/plate; whitewashed tombs appear beautiful”).

[Illus] Josephus called the temple one of the great architectural wonders of the world. Encompassing over 35 acres with white stones, gold plating, and 165-foot columns, flashing in the sunlight making it brilliant and unforgettably beautiful.

[KEY] This becomes the first opportunity to bring the disciples back to reality, stating how these stones are going to become rubble. Jesus here speaks near term, of the first Jewish/Roman wars where Roman soldiers under emperor Titus would sack Israel’s temple. These rocks would in a sense, cry out against false religion.

[TRANS] Matthew builds on this theme, recording X crossing the Kidron valley going up “the Mount of Olives” delivering famed, Olivet Discourse.

• Verse 3, intro’s appropriate setting being same mountain X returns with full demonstration of wrath in the end.

 

^ESV  Zechariah 14:4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. (Zec 14:4 ESV)

• Ezekiel records, glory of the LORD departed temple.
  • Re-settled on the Mount of Olives.
  • X appropriately seated.

 

^ESV  Ezekiel 11:23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. (Eze 11:23 ESV)

 

• Glory present, hearing X’s spoken Word.

 

• Glory, warning of false saviors.
  • X’s disciples want to know when temple is going to be destroyed.
    • “When upheaval take place?” (cf. v. 3).
      • Supposed to be the rescuing savior?
      • Overthrowing Roman rule?

 

• Give us the “…sign of your coming and the end of the age…” (v. 3).
  • Disciples adjusting understanding of X’s plan.
    • “…he says he’s going to first die…but when will he return for us in the end?”
    • X not address, a need for physical safety.
    • X values spiritual safety over physical safety.

 

[TRANS] Verse 4 pivots to warn against being led astray by false saviors, saying, “…many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ…’” (v. 4).

• Will be met w/success, “…and they will lead many astray” (v. 4).

[KEY] “See” meaning get your head up!

• Not drawn away like a “wandering planet” βλ���πετε μ��� τις ���μ���ς πλαν���σ��� (Mat 24:4 BGT).

 

• False saviors, compared w/Pharisees.

[Appl] Typical false teacher, not overtly claim divine status but instead just show someone a better way than taking truth at face value. Leading someone astray to build off the planet analogy, is simply getting someone to start tracking outside of your natural truth orbit [examples: False saviors i.e. Media Cult Ideologies].

[Appl] When anyone props themselves up, assume they will eventually miss-step; so when this happens, point to the One True Savior who will not fail them.

[Appl] X becomes an odd substitute for errant Saviors.

• X not financial savior, professional savior, political, nor psychological savior.
  • X is Savior of your soul, from eternal Hell.
  • From your sins.

 

1. Catastrophic Events (vv. 6-8)

 

1. Manmade

[KEY] Catastrophic events define history as we know it.

[Illus] From the 1920’s through the end of the 21^st century we think in terms of wars to define eras.

WWI, WW2 (pearl harbor), the Korean War, Vietnam, the cold war (threat of nuclear warfare).

In the 90’s there was desert storm, desert shield, 2001, there was 911 which spawned war in the middle east on terrorism, and recently we think about the Russian/Ukrainian war and the war between Israel and Hamas.

“…wars and rumors of wars” (v. 8) was an ancient reality where the messaging was done by currier and mail or oral reports by messengers.

Now, we live in the age of modern media where messaging is always immediate, making the phenomenon of geopolitical wars matter or seem to matter to us more than in all prior eras.

War brings an inevitability of death [sadness]; important to understand X is caution is to be alarmed by the fact that nations are out to kill each other.

When the world is eating itself, it might become easy to be dismayed [not warned], as if God is somehow irrelevant, as if God has lost his grip on this world. World leaders suddenly appear raised up as the determining gods who cause the nations to trend one way or another.

[KEY] Jesus makes clear that the wars “…must take place…” (v. 6) meaning catastrophes have a purpose; what cannot see or may never know.

(i.e. Joseph’s prison; Israel’s famine; rescue; enslavement; redemption).

• Manmade wars mean “…the end is not yet” (v. 6).
  • X has not yet returned, still time to be saved!
  • Unleashing wrath on enemies from nations.

 

• Verse 7 continues that for now, “…nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…” (v. 7), expected for now.

 

1. God-made

[KEY] Another version, catastrophic event: “An act of God” (i.e Insurance Companies).

• “…and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places” (v. 7).
  • Our fallen world perpetuates catastrophic events:
  • Floods, tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and massive storms, that are lethal.

[Illus] When Judy and I moved to Arkansas and within the first month, 26 tornados in one evening touched down all around us (“we’re not in Kansas anymore!”).

Next day, driving around revealed brick buildings reduced to rubble.

[Illus] Over a decade later, a tornado directly struck a family’s house, where Dad was shoving kids safely under the stairs, unable to get himself and two of his children inside. They were ripped away into their death.

[Appl] We see more tragic events throughout our country and world through modern media.

[App] These events like war are so severe and tragic that we can come to likewise doubt God’s love or care for our world at all.

World hunger and starvation is in the background of our world’s psyche, still unresolved. Does this mean, God is responsible?

While sin is responsible, God’s sovereign mysterious plan is still in full functionality.

The grim reality remains that we are not meant to understand catastrophe. But we nevertheless observe events as horrific in the context of future judgment, death, and ultimate annihilation.

• Verse 8 says, “All these are but the beginning of the birth pangs” (v. 8).
  • “World contractions.”
  • Smaller events preceding larger ones.

 

• Means for evangelism.

CS Lewis apply put it:

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

��� C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

[Appl] When tragedy strikes this is when you turn up your own interest to speak into people’s lives and to raise your prayers and concerns for their eternal destinies. Not manipulating the moment; coinciding the call to share X in view of their own present spiritual concerns.

[Illus] Philippian Jailer when earthquake hits and job is on the line, suicide bc/ probable execution, disappeared from his family, cries out: “Gentlemen, what must I do to be saved!” Then you say: “Believe!” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

 

1. Christian Persecution (v. 9)

[KEY] Verse 9 shifts from impersonal to personal pain.

• “Who’s they?” (cf. v. 9).
  • X warned how families will cannibalize themselves over family member’s belief in and commitment to Jesus.

^ESV  Matthew 10:21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, (Mat 10:21 ESV)

• Persecution defined as, “…deliver[ed]…up to tribulation and [being] put…to death” (v. 9).
  • Turned into authorities.
  • Christianity now illegal.

 

[Illus] Xianity illegal in many parts of the world. Most examples of persecution even in modern Islamic regions are far less aggressive than what’s described, verse 9. Jesus promises that the hatred for Christ-followers will become worldwide, “…you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake” (v. 9).

[Question] “Why this deep hatred?”

• Mankind does not want to face the accountability that comes God, especially in view of eternity.

 

• While world is unraveling, your message that Jesus is someone’s only hope for their sins to be forgiven inevitably brings someone to their own crossroads.

 

• A decision must be made over who is their master, God or someone else.

 

[Illus] This week a picked up a curious book published in 1979 titled, How to Read Slowly, A Christian Guide to Reading with the Mind by James Sire.

 

He was known for his philosophy book, The Universe Next Door.

 

In How to Read Slowly, Sire has the reader analyze an essay on Humanities (pub. 1970’s) written by a scholar named Pamela McCorduck (British-born American author, mainly in AI).

 

Essay timestamped by reference to astronomer, Carl Sagan (Cosmos) was propping up extraterrestrial intelligences while indicting what she called human chauvinism, the idea that man is the highest form of intelligence in the world is self-exaltation and short-sited, parochial, and self-destructive.

 

Her answer is to expand our thinking to intelligence found in animals and AI.

A humanities model, “Does not admit that chimpanzees, dolphins, intelligent machines, or extraterrestrial beings might have something valuable to teach us or might even be enormously bored by all our antics.”

 

McCorduck’s conclusion is world needs, “…a good replacement for the center of the universe [that is] not a parental deity who’s going to fix everything up for us in the end…we are going to have to jettison the idea of human superiority and come to grips with the idea that complexity is not necessarily superiority, that might is not necessarily right.”

 

(see, Psalm 139, “fearfully and wonderfully made”; Psalm 8:4; Heb. 2:6-8, “what is man that you are mindful of him?”).

 

[Appl] I bring this up not to prop up a secular view of humanity but to say that the world’s mindset will first make man the center of the universe and when that fails will find a creature to worship.

 

Or, another artificial source and the reason is to avoid accountability. People hate Xians bc/believers bring accountability to society. Their inability to quiet its own conscience riddled with guilt from its all-out sprint away from God.

 

Being made in God’s image is accountability as God’s creation which is accountability to God as Creator. As difficult as it might seem, when persecution is turned up even to the point of being stripped of freedoms, put in jail, or worse, this is when the Gospel message will come most clear.

 

1. Apostacy (vv. 10-13)

[KEY] Verse 10 states reality that “many” who appeared to be Xians, “fall away and betray one another and hate one another” (v. 10).

• Xian friends and mentors leave the faith.
  • Eventually to turn on who remain faithful.
  • What’s inside of church culture: compromise.

 

[Appl] People hedging against the truth, perhaps flying under the radar of love and compassion, but making allowances for the gross perversions of the age will live in.

 

When compromise hits home, people will quickly change their theology to save a friendship, especially when you are dealing with intimate friends or family members.

 

• While family turns on each other, “false prophets” become attractive “will arise and lead man astray” (v. 11).

[KEY] Verse 12 reveals driver of betrayal, “lawlessness” (v. 12).

• Lawlessness causes, “the love of many…[to] grow cold” (v. 12).
  • Hearts freeze up.
    • By contrast: “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (v. 13).
    • Persevering are the ones who are authentically Christians.

 

• When heat turns up; family turning on each other; then it’s the last men and women standing for X.

 

• Ask, “How can this compromise spawn evangelism?”
  • When it gets this bad, then what is real, truly stands out.
  • This is when you can speak to others about Christ.

 

 

1. Revival (v. 14)

When the world gets this bad, “…this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (v. 14).

• Only thing left to do.
  • Revival on this scale is a final witness to the world.
    • Gloves are off and persecution, this stark on a world scale.
      • People turn away from X in mass.
      • Likewise great populations turn to X in mass.

 

• When world’s at its worst, join the evangelism.

 

Conclusion: John Harper

John Harper’s Last Convert

4/4/2017

1 Comment

 

George Henry Cavell signed up to serve on the new ocean liner Titanic on her maiden voyage. On the evening of April 14, 1912, George was assigned to the coal bunker, and was alone when that great ship hit the iceberg. He worked with the crew to secure the ship as best they could, but then was ordered by an officer into a lifeboat. 
    
One of the passengers aboard the Titanic was a man named John Harper, a Baptist pastor from Scotland who was on his way to Chicago to preach a series of revival meetings—his second trip to do so. He did not make it into a lifeboat, and he was one of the hundreds of people who drowned that night. Before he died, however, he spent his final moments urging people to come to Christ. Anytime someone drifted close to where he was, he would ask them, “Are you saved?”
    
George Henry Cavell replied from a lifeboat, “No,” to which Harper shouted above the noise the words of Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Harper drifted away. Later, Harper drifted back within sight of the lifeboat. From the frigid water, once more the dying Harper shouted the question, “Are you saved?” Once again he received the answer, “No.” Harper repeated the words of Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,” before he drifted away again.

One report says Harper, knowing he could not survive long in the icy water, took off his life jacket and threw it to another person with the words, “You need this more than I do!” Moments later, Harper disappeared beneath the water. Four years later, when there was a reunion of the survivors of the Titanic, the man to whom Harper had witnessed told the story of his rescue and gave a testimony of his conversion recorded in a tract, I was John Harper’s Last Convert.

The frigid water of the North Atlantic took John Harper’s life, and his body was never recovered. But George put his faith in Jesus Christ. 
    
Later he was rescued by the lifeboats of the S.S. Carpathia. In Hamilton, Ontario, George Henry Cavell testified that he was John Harper’s last convert. With his dying breaths John Harper was urging people to come to Christ, because he knew there wasn’t much time; that was the last opportunity for many of them. 
    
Without being too dramatic, the truth is that none of us knows when our last opportunity has arrived. So, allow me to ask: “Are you saved?”
    
If the answer is “No,” or you do not know how to answer that question, please pay attention to the words of Acts 16:31 as if your life depended on it–because it does. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
–Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com

 

[KEY] When the ship is going down, this is our call to witness.