Download Here:

The Coming War of Jesus – Part 2
Luke 21:5-36 (8-19)
September 20, 2020

Last Sunday morning we began looking at a new section in Luke’s gospel.

• As Jesus concluded His preaching in the temple on Wednesday, He and the disciples headed out to the Mount of Olives for the night.
• On the way out, the disciples made an observation that prompted a sharp response from Jesus.
• They pointed out that the temple was “adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts”.

It must have been quite a sight.

But Jesus was less than impressed with outward beauty,
Especially if it was filled with inward hypocrisy.

He had just exposed the scribes for their outward displays of religion
And according to Jesus that’s all this temple was as well.

So for the second time in 3 days Jesus told the disciples (6) “As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.”

In short, Jesus was going to declare war on false religion.
• He started in the temple on Tuesday by clearing it.
• Friday He’ll render it totally ineffective when He splits the veil.
• In AD 70 He’ll use Rome to destroy this temple.
• And by the end of all things Jesus will have destroyed every molecule of false
religion from the planet.

IT IS THE COMING WAR OF JESUS.

Well, the disciples heard that answer
And because they are like us, their CURIOSITY was aroused.

(7) “They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?”

Matthew records their question as:
Matthew 24:3 “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

• They wanted to know when it would happen and what it would be like.
• They wanted to know when He was coming to destroy all false religion and set up His kingdom.

Many have been curious about that even until our day.

And that question sparks the longest answer
Jesus ever gave to a question.

We can break it down into 6 points.

Very interesting was the first point Jesus made.

#1 DON’T BE DECEIVED BY OPPORTUNISTS
Luke 21:8

• They wanted to know “when”.
• They wanted to know “what”.
• Earlier in Luke 17:37 they had wanted to know “where”.

(remember Jesus said, “where the bodies are, there the vultures will gather.”)

BUT BEFORE JESUS GETS TO ANY OF THAT,
THERE WAS A MORE PERTINENT WARNING.

(8) “See to it that you are not misled…”
The first warning was in regard to deception.

There are going to be many people who both claim to be Me
And who also try to convince you that the time is near.

They will use your curiosity with the end to suck you in
And deceive you and ultimately to get you to follow them.

Jesus said, “See to it that you are not misled”

WE TALKED ABOUT THIS LAST WEEK.
• We’ve seen false Christs in our day.
• We’ve certainly seen people who claim “The time is near”

AND THE DANGER IS that you will be so consumed with the end
That you will be deceived by these false prophets.

WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT THAT?

Consider again the Thessalonians.
• In 1 Thessalonians 5 Paul clearly outlined for them the facts about the Day of the Lord and the end.
• And the overwhelming truth was that when God’s wrath comes it will not be focused on you.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.”

Paul told them that Jesus would save them from the wrath to come.

But by the time we get to 2 Thessalonians,
The church in Thessalonica was GREATLY DISTURBED.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.”

• The Thessalonians were persecuted and were suffering.
• And some false prophet took the opportunity to tell them it was because they had missed the rapture and were encountering was God’s wrath on them.
• The result was they were “shaken from [their] composure” and “disturbed”

AND WHY WOULDN’T YOU BE?
You had been told that Jesus would save you from the wrath to come,
But now you believed He didn’t.

Their entire faith was about to be destroyed because of one false prophet.

That is why Jesus warned us about them.
“See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them.”

You have an obligation to know the truth
And to not be deceived by these false prophets
Who are only looking for a following.

That is instruction number 1 from Jesus.

This morning we move on.
#2 DON’T BE DISMAYED BY ORDINARY THINGS
Luke 21:9-11

This point actually runs very closely with the previous
Because often times it is perilous circumstances
That are used by the false prophets to make their point.

FOR EXAMPLE, I told you about the pastor in Kentucky who had his dreams that have gone viral on the internet.

• He talks about his dreams where he saw mask wearing and money shortages and Chinese troops and the need for guns and food storage.

Now there is no way his dreams would have gone viral,
EXCEPT for the fact that we are living in difficult and unsettling times
And his predictions are at least plausible.

In perilous times we see where such disturbances are possible.
• We see what has happened in Portland or Minneapolis.
• We see wild fires burning in California.
• We see hurricanes hitting Texas and Florida.
• We see churches being censored by state governments.
• And when he sees November as being bad, with the coming election, we are pretty much all in agreement that November is going to be pretty.

And under those circumstances
• A pastor stands up and says that God showed him that it is the end,
• That anti-Christ is already on the earth,
• And that we have to brace ourselves,
• You can see why people believe him.
• It’s not far-fetched.

That is why Jesus gives this next piece of instruction.
It is a warning for you not to read too much
Into the effects of the sin curse on this world.

Every time you hear of a war or earthquake or famine or natural disaster
Anyone can stand up and say, “This is the end!”
And with the fresh devastation you might be TEMPTED TO BELIEVE them.

Jesus takes that temptation away.

(9) “When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.”

• Will “wars and disturbances” happen? Yes
• Does that mean every time you have a war that it is the end? No

In fact Jesus tells us that the end DOESN’T even follow them immediately.

In Matthew’s gospel we read:
Matthew 24:6-8 “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”

What does Jesus mean by “birth pangs”?

He is just speaking of ordinary hardships
That are natural to this world
But which may still be a long way from the end.

In fact, He continues.
(10-11) “Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”

Jesus there lists all sorts of destructive events that are going to occur
WHICH ARE NOT YET THE END.

What are they?
They are ordinary realities of a sin-cursed environment.

Remember the curse?
Adam sinned and one of the penalties was ENMITY.

Genesis 3:14-15 “The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

There would be constant friction between
The children of God and the children of the devil
Until ultimately Christ would crush the devil.

That goes a long way towards explaining all the wars we’ve seen.
• One commentary I read said that since 1800 there have been over 500 wars recorded on the earth.
• Over 75 million people died in WW1 and WW2 alone.

Let me ask you,
• If you heard of a psychopath who declared war on the Jews, killing 6 million
• And who controlled most of Europe and who had plans of ruling the world,
• Would you think perhaps you were looking at the anti-Christ?

• And when you saw the devastation of a Pearl Harbor or of Jewish
Concentration Camps or of the atomic bomb, might you suppose it was
events right out of Revelation?

Certainly…

That’s not to make light of the difficult events of today,
It’s just to point out that friction between men
And enmity between nations IS NOT NEW.

It’s part of the sin curse.

And so are disturbances in creation.
Remember God didn’t just put enmity between men, but God also cursed the ground.

Romans 8:19-22 “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”

Creation groans and suffers.

Jesus said “there will be earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”

• I know when you read about COVID you’re tempted to think about a plague at the end.
• I know when you hear about earthquakes or hurricanes or forest fires you’re tempted to think, this could be the end.

That is especially true if you are caught in the destruction.

But again, just as there have been many wars…
• On average the world gets an 8.0 or greater earthquake once a year.

It’s not pleasant, but it’s not the end.

Isaiah told us what was happening.
Isaiah 24:19-20 “The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.”

The earth is suffering under the curse of sin.
• Every war is not the tribulation…
• Every earthquake is not the Day of the Lord…
• Every blood moon is not a sign of the apocalypse…

Not even every anti-Christ is a sign that the rapture is near.

1 John 2:18 “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.”

We are certainly in the last age, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end.
These things are not indicators.

And so Jesus is very explicit right off the bat to WARN the disciples
When they want to know about the end.

• There will be many opportunists who will seek to take advantage of natural
disasters and human enmity
• They can easily hold a newspaper in one hand and Bible in the other and try to
convince you that they know.
• They will seek to gain a following…

BUT ULTIMATELY THEY PRODUCE NO BENEFIT.
• They will either discourage the church regarding their faith,
• Or they will distract the church from her primary calling and mission.

That pastor from Kentucky told people to stockpile food and weapons.
WHY?
Because the church is supposed to hoard food and kill people?

It’s a fear tactic, mixed with a mystical dream,
And all it does is distract the church
From her true purpose and calling.

I would remind you again of the day the Lord ascended.
Acts 1:6-8 “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Do you hear the rebuke again?
Quit trying to figure out the timing of the end, you’ve got a job to do.

Now that is not to say that we don’t study the end, we do.
Paul clearly taught the Thessalonians about it.

That is not to say we don’t preach the Second Coming, we do.
The entire book of Revelation is about that day.

That is not to say we don’t rejoice in the truths God has given us about the end, we do. We love what He has revealed to us.

What Jesus is saying is that while you maintain your hope,
Don’t let some false prophet come in
And Deceive you or Discourage you or Distract you.

YOU HAVE A JOB TO DO.
And that is what the Lord tells the disciples next.

Don’t be Deceived By Opportunists.
Don’t be Dismayed by Ordinary things.
#3 DON’T BE DISTRACTED BY OPPRESSION
Luke 21:12-19

Here Jesus calls the disciples back to their purpose and mission.

“But before all these things”
That is to say, before the things of the end which you want to know about.

“they will lay their hands on you and will persecuted you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons”

That is Jewish persecution.
• John MacArthur appeared on Laura Ingraham last week in reference to his church defying the Governor of California’s order for him to stop having church.
• She asked him if he had been personally threatened by Governor Newsome.
• He said, no not personally but the church had received a letter threatening fines and that Pastor MacArthur could go to jail for 6 months.

MacArthur responded:
“Of course my biblical hero apart from the Lord Jesus Christ is the apostle Paul. And when he went into a town he didn’t ask what the hotel was like, he asked what the jail was like because he knew that’s where he was going to spend his time.”
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6191194096001?fbclid=IwAR27s9CWrSdMN9JgEl-oFmaNblQYw9khzDAXW3DAzsO5jPBBJPDgyiDfPFY#sp=show-clips at 3:44

That was true of Paul wasn’t it?
• He frequented many jails throughout Asia.
• He would preach in synagogue after synagogue and ultimately it was the Jews who attacked him and arrested him and incarcerated him.
• It was even the Jews who had a hand in having him arrested in Jerusalem and ultimately sent to Rome for his first imprisonment there.

Jesus spoke of a coming Jewish persecution.

But it wasn’t just a Jewish persecution.
He also said, their persecution will include “bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.”

This is Gentile persecution.
This is Gentile opposition.

And you’ll remember that Paul faced that as well.
• It was in Philippi that a man who owned a demon-possessed girl had Paul
thrown in jail.
• Ultimately Paul stood before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa.

And what Jesus spoke of here was that His followers
Could expect widespread opposition and persecution.

In fact:
Philippians 1:27-30 “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents — which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”

• We often speak of salvation as that which has been granted to us.
• We didn’t earn it, we didn’t achieve it, we actually didn’t even pursue it initially.
• But God, by His sovereign grace, granted salvation to us.

And Paul says just like it was granted for you to believe in Him,
It has also been granted for you “to suffer for His sake”.

Certainly you understand the ROOT of all persecution.
If you don’t, I’ll make it easy.

Satan is the god of this world and Satan hates Christ.
• Those who are lost are called children of the devil.
• Those who are “born again” are reborn as children of God.

In their lost state, all men are sons of Satan and like their father, they hate Christ.
• Now certainly we see that hatred in varying degrees and varying expressions,
• But it doesn’t change the fact that through their refusal to repent and their
refusal to submit to Him as Lord, they show their hatred for Christ.

But the problem is, Christ is now out of reach.
• They can no longer attack Christ.
• They can no longer spit on Christ.
• They can no longer arrest Christ or kill Christ.

So what do they do?
They attack His bride.

Listen to Paul:
Colossians 1:24-25 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,”

Paul mentions there that he fills us “what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”
• Does that mean that Christ didn’t finish His suffering?
• Does that mean that when Christ said, “It is finished” on the cross that He was mistaken?

No, of course not.

What Paul means is that
Though Christ suffered all God’s wrath and has justified sinners,
The world is not yet finished attacking Christ.

They still have more wrath to give,
And as Christ’s minister, Paul is a recipient of that hatred.

And that is true of all persecution.

Tonight, for example, Asaph is going to pray about the ongoing persecution they are facing, but notice how he says it:
Psalms 83:1-3 “O God, do not remain quiet; Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still. For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, And those who hate You have exalted themselves. They make shrewd plans against Your people, And conspire together against Your treasured ones.”

The whole reason for the attack is because they hate God.

All persecution occurs because Satan and men hate God,
And since they can’t reach God, they settle for God’s children.

Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”

It is simply our association with Christ that causes the persecution.

2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Well that is what Jesus is promising here to the disciples.

“for My name’s sake” you are going to be arrested and persecuted and imprisoned.

And the implication is that this is NOT THE END EITHER.
Every time Christian persecution breaks out
It does not necessarily indicate the end.
Jesus promised that from the beginning.

SO
• Just because some false prophet declares it the end…
• And just because there are wars and natural disasters…
• And just because you are persecuted…

Doesn’t mean it’s the end.

Persecution is NOT an indication of the end.
WHAT IS PERSECUTION?
And Jesus says, it is an OPPORTUNITY.

(13-15) “It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. “So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.”

And now we come to the thrust of the sermon.
• Jesus doesn’t want them deceived by opportunists…
• Jesus doesn’t want them dismayed by ordinary events…
• Because Jesus doesn’t want them distracted from their main purpose…

WHY ARE YOU HERE CHURCH?
• What is your calling?
• Why has He left you here?
• Why has He subjected You to a cursed world and hateful men?

WORSHIP? – you could do that better in heaven.
FELLOWSHIP? – that will be better in heaven as well.
HOLINESS? – again much better in heaven.

There is only one thing you are called to do here
That you cannot do in heaven and that is EVANGELISM.

And this has been the tunnel vision of Luke hasn’t it?
• When Jesus entered Jerusalem to secure His crucifixion, what has He done since He got here?
• He has preached the gospel.

And Jesus passes that same focus on to the disciples.
Don’t let anything distract you from the gospel.
• Not false Christ’s
• Not natural disasters
• Not even persecution

Let every event and every occurrence
Be seen as an opportunity for you to share.

For even when you are dragged before a king and the king asks you what you have to say, even then you have an opportunity to testify of Christ.

I told you earlier about that interview of John MacArthur with Laura Ingraham
MacArthur went on to say, “I don’t mind being a little apostolic if they want to tuck me in a jail. I’m open for a jail ministry. I’ve done a lot of other ministries, but I haven’t had an opportunity for a jail ministry so bring it on.”

That’s the perspective Jesus speaks of here.

(14) “So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves;”

That’s a pretty direct command isn’t it?
• What’s more important; your safety or your testimony?
• What’s more important; being comfortable or being faithful?

And Jesus promises that when those events occur,
He will use you and use them.

(15) “for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.”

Jesus promises that when your time comes,
If you are willing to be faithful to testify of Him,
Then He will be faithful to make sure you know what to say.

Now, He is serious about the persecution.
(16) “But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name.”

Let’s not sugar coat it.

Let’s understand what a Christian is in this world.
• A Christian in this world is a representative of Christ.
• A Christian in this world is a testimony to Christ.

And if they do it correctly then they can expect persecution.
• Jesus said you’ll all be hated.
• Jesus said many will be betrayed.
• Jesus said some will even be put to death.

But at the same time there are some great promises.
(18-19) “Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.”

Matthew 10:28-30 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

The enemy may oppose you and even kill you,
But he cannot condemn you.
In short, this all ends in victory.

But let’s zoom out a second and listen to what Jesus is saying.

1. He has declared war on false religion.
2. He has promised a day when He will even destroy this temple.
3. The disciples are overcome with curiosity as to when this will be and what it
will be like.

But Jesus sees danger in this.
• A danger that they will be so enamored with the events of tomorrow that they
will be easily deceived by false prophets.
• A danger that they will be so enamored with the events of tomorrow that they
will be dismayed when the world seems to be falling apart.
• A danger that they will be so enamored with the events of tomorrow that they
will be distracted by hardship and fail to be faithful to their calling today.

His point is simple.
Before we get to the end, let’s talk about today.

I am leaving you – in a world full of deceivers.
I am leaving you – in a world cursed by sin.
I am leaving you – in a world that hates Me and will persecute you.

Your main job is to testify of Me and be faithful doing it.
DON’T MISS THAT.
(You can read the book of Acts and see that they didn’t)

AND CHURCH WE REALLY CAN’T STRESS THIS ENOUGH.
• What are you doing?
• How are you serving the kingdom?

I know many times in church we convince ourselves that
If we are kind and if we are benevolent and if are compassionate
That we are serving Jesus.

Well, you should be all those things,
But all of those things are a means, not an end.

• If your kindness is not to gain an opportunity to share your testimony and preach the gospel then your kindness is wasted.
• If your benevolence is not to gain an opportunity to share your testimony and preach the gospel then your benevolence is wasted.
• If your compassion is not to gain an opportunity to share your testimony and preach the gospel then your compassion is wasted.

Do you understand why you are here?

• We are NOT HERE to speculate the timing of the end.
• We are NOT HERE to avoid hardship and persecution.
• We ARE HERE to seize every moment as an opportunity to proclaim the good news of Jesus.

This was where Jesus took the disciples.
And it’s what I want to LEAVE ON YOUR MIND this morning.

I know that everything around us is upside down and backward.
It’s not the first time this has happened in the world,
And it may not be the last.

• But in these perilous times the world does not need a church that is losing
her head regarding the end.
• In these perilous times the world does not need a church only concerned
about her own comfort and safety.

• In these perilous times the world needs a church that is more focused on
the gospel than ever.

SO
• Instead of wondering if this is the end,
• Or following some “would-be prophet” and his foolish predictions,
• Or falling into some self-preservation mode where your sole purpose is to defend your rights and maintain your comfort.

Why not see all that is going on around us as an opportunity for your testimony and the gospel?

Next time, when we get to vs 20 Jesus is going to answer their question.
He’s going to tell them when, He’s going to tell them what.

But before He does He is so adamant
That they maintain their focus for why they are here.

You do that too church.
• Solidify your testimony
• Solidify how to share the gospel
• And go share both of them.

Acts 1:6-8 “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Download Here:

The Highest Judge
Psalms 82
September 13, 2020

Well, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that “You’re going to love this Psalm like maybe you’ve haven’t loved a Psalm in a while.”

In the context of our world at the present, you’re liable to cling to this Psalm and quote it to your friends maybe more than any other.

I want to begin with what has become
A very difficult passage for all of us over the past few months.

Romans 13:1-7 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.”

I don’t know that I’ve ever walked through a time in my life
Where that passage was more difficult for me than now.

It really shows my weakness and immaturity that I can get so bent out of shape so quickly over something as simple as wearing a mask or having to stand 6’ away from someone else.

More than one American has lamented
How quickly governors across our nation set aside our own constitution
And put a stop to what are called our “rights”.

Many of you have been following along with the battle between John MacArthur’s church and L.A. county.

This past Thursday a judge ruled against John MacArthur.
• He was ordered to stop his indoor worship services and was ordered to allow
county officials into his church to post signs and to monitor their compliance.
• MacAthur defied the orders and the met again today.

But it’s just one of the examples of an abuse of power
Like most of us have never seen.

We cling to our “Bill of Rights” and demand our right to bear arms,
Our right to assembly, and our freedom of religion.

And many of us have cringed at politicians who used a “pandemic” (that brings a highly questionable threat)
To strip freedoms everywhere.

• Businesses closed
• Churches closed
• Sporting events canceled
• I don’t have to take you through the list, you’ve seen it and know it all too well.

And yet all the while, we as Christians
Have this NAGGING PASSAGE in the back of our minds
That we are to be in subjection to the governing authorities.

Now I know, that doesn’t negate God’s commands.
I certainly stand with John MacArthur that Christ’s command to not forsake assembling trumps any governor’s executive order.

I am well aware that we don’t trump the commands of God.

BUT LET’S BE HONEST,
Much of our frustration with the governing authorities HASN’T HAD TO DO with them commanding us to do something God forbids or commanding us not to do something God commands.

• We’ve just been angered at the overall abuse of power.
• We’ve been angered at their restriction of our basic way of life.

And the Bible DOESN’T SAY
That we can rebel against our governing authorities
Because they disregard the constitution.

So passages like the one in Romans are difficult.

• We know, and we see there that governing officials are supposed to be ministers of good and ministers of God.

• We know that governing officials are supposed to punish evildoers and reward those who do good.

• And we know that we are commanded to pay taxes to such people and even give them honor.

But then
• We see hairdressers thrown in jail for cutting hair and rioters and looters running free.
• We see politicians seeking to use our tax dollars to fund abortions.
• We have a sense of lobbyists and bribery and corruption.

And it makes it all really hard to swallow.

And all the while aside from submission
The Bible only really gives us one recourse.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”

We are told to pray for these men and women.

Well, I’m not going to lie to you.
95% of my prayers for our leaders have been of the IMPRECATORY sort.

I pray:
Psalms 5:9-10 “There is nothing reliable in what they say; Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue. Hold them guilty, O God; By their own devices let them fall! In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out, For they are rebellious against You.”

Psalms 10:15 “Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none.”

Psalms 58 comes to mind as a prayer I desire to pray.
Psalms 58 “Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men? No, in heart you work unrighteousness; On earth you weigh out the violence of your hands. The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth. They have venom like the venom of a serpent; Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear, So that it does not hear the voice of charmers, Or a skillful caster of spells. O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD. Let them flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts. Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along, Like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun. Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike. The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. And men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely there is a God who judges on earth!”

Those are really the types of prayers that fun first through my heart
In light of all the corruption we see.
AND I HAVE NO PROBLEM PRAYING THAT WAY.

Well, tonight I’ll show you
THE SONG YOU CAN SING AFTER YOU FINISH THAT PRAYER.

It is clear that Asaph has had enough of the corruption around him.

The song he sings here is a clear and concise warning
To those who suppose they answer to no one.

It is a song of warning that every leader, every judge, every ruler
Will one day give an account to the judge who is higher than they.

• Governors who canceled church services will answer to God for that.
• This Judge in LA who ruled against MacArthur’s church will answer to God.
• These politicians who promote abortion will answer to God.
• These rulers who take bribes and cater to the wicked, will stand before God.

They are NOT the ultimate judges
They are NOT the final authority
And Asaph here has a song to sing to them to remind them of that.

In view of the corruption and frustration of our day you might find yourself singing it too!

I’ll break it down into 5 points tonight.
#1 THE CONFRONTATION
Psalms 82:1-2

Here we open with an important reminder to every single judge or ruler.
One day they will answer to the judge who is higher than they.

“God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers.”

“rulers” there is literally “gods”

And I’ll tell you why.
• It is because they are endowed with God’s authority.
• It is because they were commissioned to render God’s judgments.
• And in Israel they were to operate according to God’s Laws.

We read that in Romans 13.
Romans 13:1-2 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.”

Romans 13:3 calls them “a minister of God”
In short, they stand with God’s authority.

Moses revealed it.
Exodus 22:8-9 “If the thief is not caught, then the owner of the house shall appear before the judges, to determine whether he laid his hands on his neighbor’s property. “For every breach of trust, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any lost thing about which one says, ‘This is it,’ the case of both parties shall come before the judges; he whom the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.”

The word “judges” there is ELOHIM which we translate “gods”.

Moses is not saying that they are deity,
But rather that they stand in the role of having God’s authority.
You listen to them because God has given them His authority over you.

So much so that Moses said:
Exodus 22:28 “You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people.”

In short, you treat them the same as you treat God.

Now, we’ll get there in a moment, but you’ll remember that
Jesus actually quoted verse 6 to the Pharisees.

John 10:34-35 “Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I SAID, YOU ARE GODS’? “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),”

Jesus here explains that these people are referred to as gods because God’s word came to them (and from them to the people).
They spoke God’s judgments and so they spoke to the people as God.

You see this even among the apostles.
John 20:22-23 “And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

Obviously only God can forgive sins.
What Jesus was saying to the disciples is that they
Will operate with God’s authority and thus declare men forgiven or not.

In a sense, we do the same thing.
We base it on God’s word, and if a man repents, then we tell them based on the authority of God that they are forgiven.

Paul told the Thessalonians
1 Thessalonians 2:13 “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”

IT IS THE SAME POINT HERE

So what we are dealing with here in verse 1 is people
Who in a civil sense have been the final authority among people.

The buck has stopped with them.
• For all intents and purposes they have been as a god to the people
• Because they people had to do what they said.

And these people have acted as though they are free to do what they will.

But right out of the gate Asaph reminds them
That they are NOT FREE to do as they will,
For they also have a Judge whom they will answer to.

And this Judge is not happy.
(2) “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah”

I love the timing of the “Selah” or pause here.
It brings with it that cold deathly stare of a parent
Who looks you in the eye and asks you why you did what you did.

Here the question is regarding
Their lack of justice in their judgments and their partiality to the wicked.

• Like when political rulers allow rioters to loot and steel and burn down businesses.
• Like when political rulers refuse to defend the unborn or those who are victims of sex trafficking.
• Like when a Mayor in Lubbock had no problem closing gun stores but is now fighting to let Planned Parenthood back in.

It’s nothing but corruption.
• We know why.
• Someone is padding their pockets.
• Some lobbyist is offering them money under the table to look the other way or stamp a piece of paper.

We see the corruption everywhere.
How many career politicians went into office with average income and now are millionaires?

It is obvious they have taken bribes and perverted justice.
We know it and can’t do anything about it.

But Asaph reminds here that GOD ALSO KNOWS IT.

And if you’ll remember from last Sunday night,
GOD IS PASSIONATE ABOUT IT.

Isaiah 1:16-17 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”

Amos 5:24 “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Oddly enough Amos 5:24 was one of the passages quoted by Martin Luther King and he was write in his assessment.

TODAY, we have people using the word “justice”
Who have no clue what it means.
It’s actually CORRUPTION THAT IS LABELED AS JUSTICE.

And those who condone it are in danger before God.

Psalms 50:16-21 “But to the wicked God says, “What right have you to tell of My statutes And to take My covenant in your mouth? “For you hate discipline, And you cast My words behind you. “When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, And you associate with adulterers. “You let your mouth loose in evil And your tongue frames deceit. “You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son. “These things you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.”

• People who congratulate a thief like a looter and rioter.
• People who protest on behalf of a convicted rapist (adulterer)
• People who lie and deceive with their tongue and slander the righteous

And all the while they thought they were doing the work of God.

God would go on to say:
Psalms 50:22 “Now consider this, you who forget God, Or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver.”

They may feel invincible now, but their day is coming.
They will stand before God.

At the Great White Throne
The Bible says that “the great and the small” will all appear.

• They will not get away with their corruption.
• There is a higher judge.
• The Supreme Court is the most misnamed court in the history of the world.
• Every one of those justices will answer to God.

And Asaph is singing about it.

The Confrontation
#2 THE COMMAND
Psalms 82:3-4

There is no confusion here.
There is no vagueness.

God is a God of justice
And He does not mince words about what every ruler should do.

If any king or president or ruler or politician or judge or even religious leader happens to be listening, then by all means they had better TAKE NOTES regarding God’s command.

“Vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”

More than advice, this is the command of God.
• When He brought them to power, He brought them to power to do this very thing.

This, incidentally, is why I am not a fan of the libertarian party.
They are the ones who just want the government to get out of everything.
They don’t want the government to have any moral say about anything.

It’s why I do not hold to the statement “You can’t legislate morality”

Well what else are you supposed to legislate?

Again to refer to what Paul said:
Romans 13:3-4 “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”

Their legitimate function is to reward good behavior and punish evil behavior.
• They are supposed to defend the weak.
• They are supposed speak for the defenseless.
• It is their moral obligation before God.

Many of you are familiar with Proverbs 31
As the chapter on the Virtuous Woman.

Very few are familiar with the first part of that chapter, where before outlining what kind of wife to find, King Lemuel’s mother told him how to be a good king.

Proverbs 31:1-9 “The words of King Lemuel, the oracle which his mother taught him: What, O my son? And what, O son of my womb? And what, O son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, Or your ways to that which destroys kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Or for rulers to desire strong drink, For they will drink and forget what is decreed, And pervert the rights of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to him whose life is bitter. Let him drink and forget his poverty And remember his trouble no more. Open your mouth for the mute, For the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.”

Aside from warning him about sexual scandal and drunkenness,
She reminded him that his job was
To judge righteously and to defend the weak.

Top of that list today no doubt is the unborn.

But when rulers are filled with corruption.
• When they call what is good “evil”
• When they call what is evil “good”
• They can expect to answer to God for it.

It is their job to rule and reign with justice.
• They are not supposed to allow thieves and rioters to freely roam the streets.
• They are not supposed to look the other way when people are victimized or vandalized.
• They are not supposed to only stand for those who can put money in their pockets.

And God clearly spells that out to them.
Isaiah 58:6-7 “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

The Confrontation, The Command
#3 THE CONFUSION
Psalms 82:5

Here we get one verse about the effect of corrupt rulers on their society.

You’re going to be able to identify.
“They do not know nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness;”

It is a picture of hopelessness and bewilderment.

Remember how the people in Jesus day were spoken of?
Matthew 4:15-16 “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES — “THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.”

• Walking in darkness was akin to hopelessness.
• They had no hope at all that their rulers would do right by them.
• In Jesus’ day it was Jews expecting justice from a Roman empire that cared nothing for them.

I think we can understand to a degree.
• It is the effect of corrupt rulers on a people.
• It leaves them without hope.

Matthew 9:36 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”

Isaiah saw it like this:
Isaiah 59:9-11 “Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us; We hope for light, but behold, darkness, For brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope along the wall like blind men, We grope like those who have no eyes; We stumble at midday as in the twilight, Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men. All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none, For salvation, but it is far from us.”

That is the effect that corrupt leadership has on its people.

Asaph goes on to explain them as:
“All the foundations of the earth are shaken”

That is to say, nothing is right anymore; nothing is dependable; nothing is trustworthy.
• We have doctors that will tell you COVID is dangerous.
• We have doctors that tell us it isn’t.
• We have news sources that tell us the protest are peaceful.
• We have news sources that tell us they aren’t.
• One politician says another is lying, and the response is, “no you are”.

There is no bedrock foundation to follow.
Psalms 11:3 “If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?”

• If you live in a culture that fights for the right to kill the unborn…
• If you live in a culture that celebrates homosexuality…
• If you live in a culture that demands certain ideologies…

What can you do?

Well, you pray to the Judge who outranks them all.

David answered that question by saying:
Psalms 11:4-7 “The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup. For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face.”

We trust God.

But you understand where Asaph is coming from.
• He is singing a song to these corrupt rulers
• Telling them that because they fail to obey the commands of God, they will stand judgement.
• They have discouraged the righteous and emboldened the wicked and they will answer to God for it.

Which is the next point.
#4 THE CONDEMNATION
Psalms 82:6-7

“I said, “You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High”

That is to say, “I put you in place of authority”
I gave you the right to rule and to judge.

I exalted you above the people and gave you the sword
That you might punish the wicked and deliver the righteous.

But you have judged unjustly.
You have shown partiality to the wicked.

So…
(7) “Nevertheless you will die like men and fall like any one of the princes.”

That is to say, you won’t always be in this position.
• Death is the great equalizer.
• And many a Tyrant died bad.

I still remember pictures that surfaced of Sodom Hussain
After living underground for a few months.
I remember laughing at how he looked like he’d had his throat cut.
He wasn’t so big all of a sudden.

God spoke like that to the king of Assyria.
• God had granted the king of Assyria the right to judge nations as an avenger of God, but he corrupted his power.

To him God said:
Isaiah 14:12-21 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit. “Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’ “All the kings of the nations lie in glory, Each in his own tomb. “But you have been cast out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit Like a trampled corpse. “You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever. “Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter Because of the iniquity of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth And fill the face of the world with cities.”

It is the story of a king who got too big for his britches
And God brought him down.

Even though Paul apologized for speaking ill of High Priest,
I understand his outburst.
Acts 23:1-3 “Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.” The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?”

Do corrupt men really think
They can violate the Law of God and yet still escape?

Someone would do good to ask Governor Newsome out in California if he really thinks he can attack God’s church and come out on top?

They cannot!
THEY WILL BE JUDGED.
• Today they feel big and powerful because God has placed them in authority.
• Today we submit to them because all authority comes from God.
• Today we put up with their corruption.

But we know, their day will come to an end.

That is the song Asaph sings to the corrupt rulers.
• It is a song many of us would like to sing to our leaders in Washington.

It is a severe warning that men in power
Are there by the sovereign will of God,
But to whom much has been given, much will be required.

But after announcing this truth to the corrupt judges of the land,
Asaph ends with one final stanza in his song.

#5 THE CALL
Psalms 82:8

“Arise, O God, judge the earth! For it is You who possesses all the nations.”

If you’re wondering how this fits.

It is the very call of the Apostle John at the end of the Revelation.
• John saw the fall of the political world system of the Beast.
• John saw the fall of the harlot and all false religion.
• John saw the wicked slain.
• John saw Satan cast into hell.
• John saw Jesus return and destroy all evil.

And to all of that John said:
Revelation 22:20 “He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

This verse is the “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus”
“Arise, O God, judge the earth!”

It is Asaph’s plea and his prayer.
• It is my prayer.
• It is your prayer.

We like Abraham long for a city where righteousness dwells.
We long for the day when Jesus returns and destroys the wicked
And sets up a righteous kingdom.

We read of His reign:
Isaiah 11:1-5 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.”

We read of His city
Revelation 21:22-27 “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Asaph knows that all the kings will bow to God.
Asaph knows that all the judges will answer to Him.
And after warning them, He pleads for that day.

We long for it too.

And in the meantime we rejoice in the fact that the day is coming.
• We know that the corrupt rulers of our day will get no say in Heaven.
• They will answer for what they’ve done and God will reign in righteousness.

This is an encouraging song!
We look to this!
We wait for this!

Now, since we don’t actually have this song set to music where we can sing it, instead I’ve asked Leo to come up and sing “Jesus, What A Mighty Name”.

And tonight, if you know it, sing it with him!

We are looking for the day when our God puts an end to all the corruption.

Download Here:

The Coming War of Jesus – Part 1
Luke 21:5-36 (5-8)
September 13, 2020

This morning we enter a bit of a new segment in Luke’s gospel.

• It is a sermon Jesus gave based on a simple observation and question by His disciples.
• It is the longest recorded answer to any question Jesus was ever asked.
• In Matthew’s gospel it actually spans 2 full chapters.
• It is commonly called “The Olivet Discourse” – Jesus’ sermon on the end.

And Matthew’s gospel (which we have studied) is certainly very detailed
In laying out some of those apocalyptic events
And timelines that greatly interest people.

But Luke’s gospel is a little different.
Certainly some of the facts are the same,
But it is also our desire to gain an understanding as to why
Luke didn’t record the sermon verbatim like Matthew seemed to do.

All gospel writers give us different bits and pieces
Because they are seemingly focusing in on
Different aspects of what Jesus said.

Luke’s gospel focuses on the calling or responsibility of Christians
In the midst of a world that is going down in flames.

His version of the Olivet Discourse comes at us with more of a focus that despite what is occurring around us, we have a mandate to deliver the gospel to the world.

And this certainly FITS THE THEME we’ve studied the past few weeks.

As we’ve seen Jesus in the temple,
The entire focus has been on the fact that He is preaching the gospel.

And LAST WEEK we even saw Jesus go on a full-scale attack
Of the false gospel that was being preached in Israel.

Jesus has been preaching the true gospel and condemning the false one.
That was His focus on Wednesday in the temple.

Luke 21:37 “Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet.”

AND THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE.
Jesus has concluded His Wednesday preaching
And He is headed out to Mt. Olivet which overlooks the city
Where He will spend the night.

Thursday He’ll return to the city and take the Passover with His disciples.

But for now He’s leaving the temple and it is the conversation that occurs while leaving that sets off this entire sermon.

Matthew 24:1 “Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.”

In Luke’s gospel we read it like this:
(5) “And while some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts…”

The conversation of the disciples was the stunning beauty of the temple.
• This was Herod’s temple.
• It was one of the wonders of the ancient world.
• It had been under construction for around 50 years and would still be under construction in about 35 years when it would be destroyed.

John MacArthur wrote about it:
“It was built with brilliant white stone, polished like marble, and contained numerous rooms, porticos, colonnades, plazas, and patios, as well as caves, cisterns, and pits for water storage. The highest of its many levels towered hundreds of feet above the Kidron Valley. The eastern wall of the temple’s main structure was covered in plates of gold, which shone brilliantly in the rays of the morning sun coming over Olivet.
The disciples noted in particular that the massive stone block walls were also adorned with beautiful stones, donated by the wealthy as their ancestors had done for Solomon’s temple (1 Chron. 29:8). Votive gifts were given as offerings symbolizing a vow made by the giver. Such consisted of plaques, sculptures, and other artistic treasures (including a nearly six-foot-high golden vine with golden grapes donated by Herod), found through the temple.”
(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Luke 18-24; Moody Publishers; Chicago, IL 2014] pg. 176-177)

It was a stunning structure.
It was a beautiful work of art

And the disciples pointed it out to Jesus.
• Perhaps they were making small talk…
• Perhaps they were simple Galileans blown away by the big city…

Whatever their reason, they pointed out to Jesus
Not only the beauty of the temple, but also
The “beautiful stones and votive gifts” that had been given to adorn it.

And it is to that observation that Jesus cuts to the heart of the matter.
(6) “He said, “As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.”

Now if you’ll remember, this is NOT THE FIRST TIME Jesus revealed this.
• This is Wednesday night.
• On Monday He said the same thing.

Luke 19:42-44 “saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

During the Triumphal Entry, Jesus had turned and confronted the crowds
To tell them that they had totally missed the point.

They had failed to recognize “the time of [their] visitation.”
• That is to say, God had sent a Savior
• And they had not recognized either their need for salvation or the Savior Himself.

Remember His trip back to Nazareth?
Luke 4:16-21 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

But if you’ll remember the people of Nazareth didn’t appreciate
The insinuation that they were “poor” or “captives” or “blind” or “oppressed”.

• They didn’t appreciate His insinuation that they needed Saving.
• They only wanted miracles to be worked.
• When Jesus persisted preaching the gospel, they tried to throw Him off a cliff.

Such was a picture of the response of all Israel.

Isaiah prophesied about them years earlier:
Isaiah 65:1-5 “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ To a nation which did not call on My name. “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, A people who continually provoke Me to My face, Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks; Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places; Who eat swine’s flesh, And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots. “Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.”

• They reckoned themselves holy…
• They didn’t need a Savior…
• And so regardless of His offer, they wouldn’t receive it.

Paul referenced this verse later in:
Romans 10:21 “But as for Israel He says, “ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.”

• Jesus had come to save them.
• Jesus had offered them salvation.
• But they had rejected the time of their visitation.

And so Jesus had told them that Jerusalem would be destroyed.
THAT WAS MONDAY.

But here it is Wednesday evening
And it is clear that the disciples had failed to pay attention.

Because as they leave the temple they point out to Jesus how beautiful it is,
And Jesus repeats Himself.

(6) “As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.”

WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF THIS?
It is simple if you follow Luke’s train of thought.

Jesus just exposed the corrupt false gospel of the religious elite.

And do you remember how He exposed them?
• He spoke of their long beautiful robes…
• He spoke of their long eloquent prayers…
• He spoke of their respect and honor…

But He exposed them as those who would receive greater condemnation
Because despite their outward beauty all they do is destroy men,
Like this helpless widow who had been devoured by them.

And no sooner do we get that sermon,
Then do the disciples point out how beautiful the temple is.

But hear me here:
THE TEMPLE WAS NOT BEAUTIFUL TO JESUS.

All of its marble walls and gold plated court yards
And “beautiful stones and votive gifts”
Could not cover up the filth of the false religion that permeated from it.

If you were with us last Sunday night, we looked at Psalms 81.
• It was a song about the grief of God.
• The setting was the Feast of Trumpets which kicked off 21 days of worship.
• Feast of Trumpets
• Day of Atonement
• Feast of Booths

And as the people are singing and shouting, God is grieving.

Psalms 81:8-12 “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me! “Let there be no strange god among you; Nor shall you worship any foreign god. “I, the LORD, am your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. “But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me. “So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in their own devices.”

• They were going through the motions…
• They were attending the feasts…
• They were singing the songs…

But God was not pleased. It was not beautiful to Him
Because their hearts were far from Him and they worshiped other gods.

We even referenced how this was often true in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 1:12-14 “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.”

Amos 5:21-23 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.”

And that attitude is the very attitude we see here with Jesus.

He isn’t mesmerized by the outward beauty of this temple
He is sickened by the inward defilement of this temple

And He is SO SICKENED by it that
He has decreed that He is going to tear it to the ground.

• He already declared war on this temple back on Tuesday when He entered it and turned over the tables and drove out the money changers.
• And here He announces for a second time that He is doing to totally annihilate it.
• On Friday He will actually render it useless as the veil is torn.

Incidentally, this is NOT THE FIRST TIME God has done such a thing.
In Jeremiah 7, Jeremiah is found preaching at the gate of the temple. As people entered, he said:

Jeremiah 7:9-12 “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ — that you may do all these abominations? “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD. “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.”

During the time of the Judges, the Ark of God was left at Shiloh.
• But you remember the story of how the Philistines attacked.
• So the children of Israel took the Ark from Shiloh into battle.
• The Philistines won, stole the Ark, and killed Eli’s sons.
• Eli fell over and died.
• Eli’s daughter-in-law immediately went into labor and had a son and named him Ichabod (no-glory)

They were sinful and God allowed the place of worship to be decimated
And for His glory to depart.

You fast forward to the days of Jeremiah
• Jeremiah said it’s about to happen again.
• God is going to destroy this temple and His glory will depart.
• In Ezekiel He did.

Ezekiel 11:22-25 “Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. The glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is east of the city. And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to the exiles in Chaldea. So the vision that I had seen left me. Then I told the exiles all the things that the LORD had shown me.”

Following that departure, Nebuchadnezzar came in
And burned Solomon’s temple to the ground.

Well we fast-forward again
Jesus is exiting the Temple and the disciples brag about its beauty, Jesus says, “Not so fast.”

They have rejected the glory of this temple (Jesus)
• And so I’m about to level this place just as I did at Shiloh
• And just as I did to Solomon’s temple.

There is no beauty here for Jesus because it is all corrupt religion.
It doesn’t matter how well adorned it is, it is false.
It dishonors God and it condemns men to hell.

Proverbs 11:22 “As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.”

That is how one might describe this temple.
• All of those “beautiful stones and votive gifts” were out of place.
• There no different than someone putting “a ring of gold in a swine’s snout”

It was corruption and it had to go.

WHAT WE SEE HERE IS JESUS SPEAKING OF THE COMING WAR.
And you need to know this.

It is certainly true
• That Jesus is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
• That Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.
• That Jesus is the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.
• That Jesus did not come to condemn men but to save them.

HE IS THE SAVIOR.

But you also must understand that part of His salvation
Is to declare war and totally annihilate false religion.

In fact, if we might fast-forward to the end for a moment.
Revelation 17 reveals the final destruction of false religion.

Revelation 17:1-7 “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. And the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.”

There false religion is compared to a harlot.
• She is “clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls”
• But she only offers “abominations and…the unclean things of her immorality”

She looks beautiful but she is full of death and defilement.
That is false religion.

And regarding her we read:
Revelation 17:14-18 “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” And he said to me, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. “And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. “For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. “The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

Jesus will destroy all false religion.
He started in the temple on Tuesday.

And it’s only going to get worse.
• In A.D. 70 Rome will actually build scaffolds around this temple and fill the space between them and the wall with all manner of combustible material.
• They will then light the fire.
• The fires would weaken the stone and melt all the gold.
• And Rome would level this place.

Ultimately it was the war of Jesus.
• Jesus is destroying this temple because this temple is just like those scribes and Pharisees
• Who look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

He does not think this temple is beautiful, to Him it is detestable.

And we point out again, as we did Sunday night,
That outward religion has no appeal to Christ.

The command is that we love Him
With all our heart and soul and mind and strength.

• Christ is not nearly as concerned with the building we build as He is with the people inside them.
• Christ is not nearly as concerned with the clothing we wear as He is with the heart inside them.
• Christ is not nearly as concerned with the songs we sing as He is with the motive for our singing.
• Christ is not nearly as concerned with the offerings we give as He is with the reason we give them.

YOU UNDERSTAND THIS.
And so you understand why He is less than impressed
With this temple and why He will destroy it.

This temple is a landmark of false religion and deception and it must go.

Now, that is the response of Jesus to His disciples
As they talk about the beauty of the temple.

Jesus says, “I’m going to tear it all down.”

And that response of Jesus sparks a question from the disciples.

(7) “They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?”

They aren’t so different from us are they?

Jesus announces a coming judgment and the two main questions are “When?” and “What will it be like?”

Now first I REMIND you that the Lord has answered this question frequently.

In fact, we’ve already studied it a couple of times in Luke’s gospel.

TURN TO: LUKE 12:35-48

Jesus spoke of the end and the coming judgment.
• And what was the message of the Lord?
• What was it that He most wanted us to know?

“Be ready”
Don’t worry yourselves with the actual date…
You just be ready.

And incidentally, “be ready” meant –
Be doing what the Master commanded you to do.

Don’t be lazy…
Don’t be smug…
Be obedient, be ready…

TURN TO: LUKE 17:22-37

There again as Jesus spoke the inevitable coming judgment.
• He spoke of men distracted with the things of the world.
• And told us to “Remember Lot’s wife.”
• It was a warning not to get distracted or mesmerized by the things of this world.
• Be ready for the coming judgment.

So our Lord has already addressed this now twice.
The point He has repeatedly made is that
IT IS NOT so much about you knowing the date of His coming.

Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

It’s not about knowing the date.
It’s about faithfulness to your job every day
Knowing that He will come like a thief in the night.

Jesus has already addressed it.

But the disciples, again like us, ask again.
“Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?”

This time Jesus gives some details.

His answer begins in verse 8 and goes through verse 36
And it is important to understand the main thrust of His answer.

Take a moment and look at the specific commands that will come out.
• (8) “See to it that you are not misled”
• (9) “do not be terrified”
• (14) “make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves”
• (28) “when these things take place straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near”
• (31) “when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near”
• (34) “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down”
• (36) “keep on the alert at all times”

When you read the commands in this section you understand that
In many ways the answer hasn’t changed much.

• Don’t be deceived
• Don’t be afraid
• Don’t forget your duty
• Be alert, Be ready

It’s the same message in many ways.
It is what the Lord wants His church to know in regard to the end.

We’re going to work our way through it over the next couple of weeks.

And while there are certainly some “end times” facts that will emerge,
And while you will certainly learn some details about the end,
I mostly want you to understand Jesus’ point in the sermon.

He remains consistent in message.
• Don’t let the events of the end cause you to fail to be faithful today.
• Be ready for the return by being faithful today.

That message hasn’t changed.

So we want to listen as Jesus speaks about His coming war
And what He wants us to know about being ready for it.

There are 6 points to be made here by Jesus to His disciples
As they are curious about Jesus coming war.

#1 DON’T BE DECEIVED BY OPPORTUNISTS
Luke 21:8

It is very interesting to me that Jesus begins here.

And you already saw this warning as well.
Luke 17:22-23 “And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. “They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them.”

It seems to have been of primary concern to the Lord
That His followers understand that concerning the events of the end
There would be a host of deceivers
Who would seek to take advantage of the fact.

Matthew 24:5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”

Matthew 24:11 “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.”

Matthew 24:23-26 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘ There He is,’ do not believe him. “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. “Behold, I have told you in advance. “So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.”

The fact is that Satan is a liar and the father of lies and he doesn’t miss any opportunity to distort the truth and to deceive the unsuspecting.

And the events regarding the coming judgment are no different.

We have noted in the past the number of false Christ’s who have appeared on the horizon.
• We are all aware of the Jim Jones’ and David Caresh’s of our day.
• Men who deceived others by claiming to be Jesus and misrepresenting the facts about the end.

Jesus knew that curiosity about the end would be a major tool
Used by false prophets to gather for themselves a following.

So the first warning was that we not be deceived by opportunists.
That is people who use worldly events
To take an opportunity to gain your following.

AND TRUST ME, PEOPLE DO THIS ALL THE TIME.
• Not just those who claim “I am He” – certainly there have been those, but those aren’t the only deceivers.
• There are also those who say “The time is near”.

People who hold up the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other
And seek convince men that they’ve figured it out and this is the end.

Many over the years have made bold predictions
About the return of Christ as to when it will come.

One of my favorites was Edgar Whisenhunt who took the world by storm in 1988 with his booklet, “88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988”

Of course when it didn’t happen, Whisenhunt responded:
“I made a mistake last year — my calculations were off by one year. But I believe my mistake was God’s will — a shout, a preparation period for the church. And there has been a revival. I believe this year it’s the rapture. The evidence is there.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1989/06/03/sept-1-forecast-as-day-of-christian-rapture/9bcd4d30-0a40-495d-97d5-a270f3eed1e8/

And so naturally he predicted that it would occur in 1989.
Again he was wrong.

Even as we sit here today we missed another prediction.
• There was actually an internet countdown clock which said the rapture was supposed to have occurred yesterday (9/12/20) at noon.

For years we’ve heard the ministries of John Hagee or Jack Van Impe or Pat Robertson as they go on their spills about political events and the nearing end.

The internet has recently been taken by storm with the “prophetic dreams” of a Kentucky pastor named Dana Coverstone who has claimed to have predicted the virus and has now predicted other things including an overthrow of America so that the Anti-Christ can assume power.

Now obviously, at some point, someone may be accidentally correct,
Since the Lord is going to return.

BUT THE POINT OF OUR LORD HERE IS THAT
There will be a host of people who will take advantage of many simply because they understand this information
Is highly sought after by people.

Acts 20:29-30 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

False prophets have often infiltrated the church
In order steal followers for themselves.

And the results are catastrophic.

2 Timothy 2:16-18 “But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.”

• Those men claimed that the resurrection had already occurred and had the drastic effect of “they upset the faith of some”.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.”

• There was such severe persecution in Thessalonica that a false prophet told them that
• It was because they had missed the rapture and were now in the “day of the Lord” judgment;
• And their faith was failing.

The effects of this were
• Things like LAZINESS – men who quit work just to wait for the Lord. (Remember it was to them that Paul had to write the warning that if a man doesn’t work he doesn’t eat)
• DISCOURAGEMENT – they thought their faith was in vain because they were now under God’s judgment.
• HOPELESSNESS – they thought they had missed the resurrection.

Paul had already instructed the Thessalonians
About the day of the Lord and the end times,
But a false prophet had taken them captive and upset their faith.

This is a threat involving facts about the end times.

We’ve heard stories of widows giving their entire estate to some false prophet because they wouldn’t need it since they would soon be raptured.

And loss of money is the least of concerns.

• What about people who are convinced that their faith is of no use since Jesus didn’t return like the preacher said?

• What about people who spend all their days calculating the time of Christ’s return and no time preaching the gospel which is our command?

Interestingly enough, this pastor Dana Coverstone warns of the coming end and his advice is “brace yourself, buy guns, stockpile food”.

Well even if his prediction is correct, his application is terrible.
He moves people to fear and self-preservation
Instead of faithfulness and the preaching of the gospel.

The simple point is that when we start talking about the end,
There is a host of deceivers and bad information out there;
DO NOT BUY IT.

It was the first warning Jesus gave.
“See to it that you are not misled”

We’ll talk more about next time.
This morning, I simply leave you with the reminder that
• Jesus has promised to destroy false religion,
• His overwhelming advice is for us to be ready through faithfulness to His commands.

Download Here:

A Song To Make God Grieve
Psalms 81
September 6, 2020

Tonight we come across a song of the saddest sort.
In fact, it is a song that actually ends with the grieving of God.

And as you start out reading the Psalm that sounds a little peculiar
Because it seems to start with such joy and excitement.

“Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob. Raise a song, strike the timbrel, The sweet sounding lyre with the harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, on our feast day.”

It sounds quite exciting.
It sounds quite enormous.

And yet, by the time we get to the end of the Psalm
We see God is not rejoicing, He is grieving.

(13) “Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways!”

And then the Psalm ends with all the realities that could be true for Israel
If they were only willing to listen to God, BUT THEY WON’T.

In fact, verse 11 says, “But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me.”

What that teaches us is that whatever the singing of the first 3 verses was,
It was a far cry short of what God was actually looking for.

And some might say, “Well if the song causes God to grieve, we should never sing it!”

And yet the reality is that Israel sang it all the time,
And we can only hope that the church never does.

NOW LET ME GIVE YOU THE BACKDROP.
The setting of this Psalm is most likely “The Feast of Trumpets”.

The feast of trumpets was exactly what it sounds like.
On the first day of the 7th month – Tishri (September/October)
Trumpets were blown as a sort of gathering together of God’s people.

Leviticus 23:23-25 “Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ‘You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.'”

Trumpets were typically symbolic of the moving of God,
And here they were to gather the people in preparation of that.

Then on the 10th day of that same month was “The Day of Atonement”
• You remember the ordinance of the two goats, one a scapegoat which was sent away and the other the sacrifice which was carried into the Holy of Holies.

It was the day in which all your sins committed in ignorance
Were atoned for before God.

And then on the 15th day of the same month the children of Israel were to celebrate “The Feast of Booths”.
• They were to live in brush arbors for a week remembering God’s great deliverance and provision for their ancestors who were brought out of Egypt and who lived in booths in the wilderness.

What you ultimately had was 3 full weeks of worship.
• Worship which was KICKED OFF by the blasting of trumpets.
• Worship which INCLUDED the great atonement of all sin.
• Worship which CULMINATED in a week long remembrance of God’s great
provision.

It was to be a tremendous time of worship in Israel.

THAT IS THE SETTING BEHIND THIS PSALM.
That is what Asaph is actually talking about in the first 3 verses when he is calling the children of Israel to singing and shouting and blasting of trumpets.

It was to be a grand worship service.
• The problem is that by the end of the Psalm, God is clearly not pleased;
• In fact He is grieving the entire scene.

You know that this is NOT AN ISOLATED REALITY in the Old Testament.
In fact, we see this response from God often.

Very frequently we find God announcing that
He is not pleased with the traditional and ceremonial worship of Israel,
But rather that He is put off by it.

Isaiah 1:10-15 “Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah. “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”

Amos 5:21-24 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

And certainly we’ve figured this out by now.
God is not looking for a people
Who will simply go through a prescribed order of service
So as to “get Him off their back”.

HE FINDS NO JOY IN THAT AT ALL.

And this is what we are confronted with here in Psalms 81.
• It is a response of God to the worship of His people,
• It is a sad announcement to those people of what they are actually missing
• Because their worship is only routine and not from the heart.

Instead of being delighted with this 3 weeks of worship,
God is actually frustrated.

And what a terrible thing to occur.
God forbid that our relationship with God ever become simply routine.

And yet, we know it can happen.

We all remember the infamous church at Ephesus.
Revelation 2:2-5 “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place — unless you repent.”

It is a sad reality,
But one that we must always remember as a potential reality
So that our worship does not grow routine
And our love does not grow cold.

Let’s work our way through this Psalm
And listen as God responds to this superficial worship.

4 points tonight.
#1 GOD’S REQUIREMENT
Psalms 81:1-5a

As we pointed out, the Psalm seems to begin with a bang!
• It is a big celebration.
• The orchestra is firing on all cylinders.
• It’s a grand time of singing and song.

(1-3) “Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob. Raise a song, strike the timbrel, The sweet sounding lyre with the harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, At the full moon, on our feast day.”

Perhaps you’ve even been in services or conferences like this.
Where a large crowd was gathered and the music was powerful and the singing was loud.
• Certainly there is no problem there.
• Worship of God should be joyful…
• Singing should be loud…
• Music should be sweet and beautiful…
• Trumpets should be blown…

Psalms 150 “Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!”

We certainly understand that a great King deserves great praise.

But when we come to verse 4
Perhaps for the first time we begin to pick up on the problem.

For in verse 4 THE MOTIVATION for this great time of singing is given.

(4-5a) “For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob. He established it for a testimony in Joseph When he went throughout the land of Egypt.”

Were it not for the rest of the Psalm,
We might not pick up on a problem here.
But the coming grief of God certainly confirms this to be a problem.

The worship of God here is NOT in response to His great intervention
(as trumpets would suggest)
The worship of God here is NOT in response to His great pardon
(as the coming Day of Atonement would warrant)
The worship of God here is NOT in response to His great provision
(as the Feast of Booths would commemorate)

The worship of God here is only because He told them to do it.
It “is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob.”

When Israel was being delivered from Egypt, and God was leading them out of their bondage, He prescribed these feasts and told them to do it.
And that is why they are here.

• It is social pressure…
• It is to keep God off their back…
• They are doing it because they dare not do it…

It is not prompted out of love or gratitude,
But out of requirement and fear of the repercussions if they don’t.

It is the sort of attitude God addressed through David in Psalms 50
Psalms 50:7-15 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me. “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

God’s issue was not with their failure to bring animals for slaughter.
Indeed they were good at that.

God’s issue was that in all their sacrifices there was not GRATITUDE,
There was no DEVOTION, there was no TRUST, and there was no HONOR.

• What an empty worship service
When people only attend because they know they are required to come.
• What empty singing
When people only regurgitate a song they have learned from memory.
• What empty music
When it is nothing more than people performing because they are under some social obligation.

This is what God perceived.
• They were singing…
• They were shouting…
• They were striking the timbrel…
• They were playing the harp…
• They were blowing the trumpets…

But they were only doing it because God had commanded them to do it,
Not out of love and gratitude toward Him.

Jesus taught us a great truth about worship, when He said:
John 4:23-24 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

To worship in spirit is to worship with the heart and with the emotions, with love and passion and gratitude toward God.

To worship in truth is to worship in the way in which God has prescribed worship to occur, and to accurately worship the truth of who God is.

To worship in spirit but not in truth is emotionally worship God for what He is not or in a way which He has not desired.

To worship in truth but not in spirit is to go through all the right motions, but to be empty of love and true devotion.

The latter was the problem here.
• They knew when to sit…
• They knew when to stand…
• They knew what to say and when to say it…
• But their hearts were far from Him.

That is the scene.
Now God is going to begin to address it.

God’s Requirement
#2 GOD’S REVELATION
Psalms 81:5b-7

The beginning of verse 5 references God bringing Israel out of Egypt.
• Certainly in the Old Testament that is the big deliverance.
• The Exodus was in effect “the cross” of the Old Testament.

And after referencing it in the beginning of verse 5
God begins to recount that event from His perspective.

(5c-7a) “I heard a language I did not know: I relieved his shoulder of the burden, His hands were freed from the basket. You called in trouble and I rescued you; I answered you in the hiding place of thunder;”

It is a reference to God’s deliverance of the slaves in bondage.

“I heard a language I did not know:”
• That certainly doesn’t mean that God didn’t understand Egyptian,
• Rather He is simply referring to the fact that His people were slaves in a foreign land.
• His children were in bondage.
• They were afflicted.
• They were under a heavy burden.

“I relieved his shoulder of the burden, His hands were freed from the basket”
• You picture God taking that bar off their neck with which they were carrying water.
• You picture God letting them set that bucket full of mud down.
• God told them they were finished being slaves.
• He totally liberated them.

To sum it up, He says, “You called in trouble and I rescued you;”
• You were a slave in bondage in a foreign land, but I intervened.
• I showed up and led you out with a mighty hand.

And we remember the story of the plagues and the plunder
And how God led His people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea.
HE SAVED THEM.

And then He revealed Himself to them.
“I answered you in the hiding place of thunder;”
• This was at Sinai where God made His will known.
• Here God revealed Himself.
• Here God gave His Law.
• Here God entered into covenant and agreement with His people.

He promised that so long as they were faithful to Him,
That He also would be faithful to them.
It was a joyful marriage ceremony following the great deliverance.

And all should have been well.
But look at the last line of verse 7.

“I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah”
• God doesn’t say, “I proved Myself to you at Meribah”
• God says, “I proved you at the waters of Meribah”

That is to say, that after all the deliverance,
I caused you to show your true colors to Me at Meribah.

What happened there?
It was when the children of Israel put God to the test and grumbled at their lack of water.

What did God prove on that day?
• That these people were really not devoted to Him at all.
• They didn’t really love Him.
• They didn’t really desire Him.
• They only sought to use Him.

Psalms 95:8-11 “Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

Incidentally the writer of Hebrews warns the church to not be like those people.

But hopefully you get the point of what God is saying here.
• He is observing this celebration of trumpets…
• He is witnessing this time of feasting…
• And He sees the people going through the rituals surely enough…

But He says, “I know who you are.”
Your singing doesn’t fool Me.
Your musical abilities haven’t fooled Me.
You have already shown Me your true colors, I know what is in you heart.

It is reminiscent of Jesus.
John 2:23-25 “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”

Literally John says the people were believing in Jesus,
But Jesus wasn’t believing in them.
He knew them.

It is what Jesus actually confronted the Pharisees with:
Matthew 15:1-9 “Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? “For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'”

Jesus knew the heart.
He knew that it was nothing more than empty ceremony.
It was nothing more than a shallow display of tradition.

And God here is saying the same thing as He is observing this feast of trumpets.
• He hears the singing, He knows the songs.
• But He also knows what is in their heart.
• They are a people, who despite His great deliverance, have never truly loved Him.

And at the end of verse 7 we get that famous “Selah”
Which is a call to just stop and ponder that a moment.
• After bringing up “Meribah” God simply calls for a pause in the festivities for all to sit and ponder their true motivation.

We must take advantage here and do the same.
• Why am I here?
• Why do I sing?
• God knows my heart, what does He see when I attend a worship service?

It must be examined.

Well, after exposing this crowd to their very core
God now begins to give the expectation and explanation
Of what He really wants.

And we find this to be so important to our understanding of worship.

God’s Requirement, God’s Revelation
#3 GOD’S REPROACH
Psalms 81:8-10

If they are willing, God will set them straight.
If they would desire their worship to be pleasing, God will oblige them.
If they want to know, God will show them what they are missing.

“Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me!”

You can feel the heart of God in that passage.
• As though He has now for generations sought to gain the attention of these empty worshipers.
• As though He has at feast after feast begged them to do it differently.

And finally, having gained their attention,
GOD NOW REVEALS WHAT HE DESIRES.

(9-10) “Let there be no strange god among you; Nor shall you worship any foreign god. “I, the LORD, am your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.”

• Here they are at a great feast singing and blasting trumpets…
• Here they are about to celebrate the atoning sacrifice…
• Here they are about to live in booths commemorating God’s deliverance…

And all the while God is not pleased with their worship.

And when He finally gains their attention,
And they finally give Him an ear,
HIS REQUEST IS ACTUALLY HEARTBREAKING.

God says, “Stop worshiping foreign gods”
Put away your idols.

It is a dissatisfied husband who is grieved with his wife,
• And she finally asks, “What do you want from me?”
• To which he answers, “I want you to end your affair.”

And we now understand why this worship was so empty to God.
And we now understand why this celebration was so grievous.

They showed up in God’s city to sing God’s praises and all the while,
God knows their heart and that it is full of idols.

Could there be any wonder why God is not blessed by this feasting?

He actually calls their idols “strange” and “foreign”
AND THOSE ARE FITTING WORDS.

For idolatry is STRANGE and it is FOREIGN.
In fact it is stupid.

TURN TO: ISAIAH 44

In the first 5 verses God is laying out for Israel what great blessing and benefit He would greatly pour upon them.
• I chose you
• I created you
• I will bless you

In verses 6-8 God asks if they know of any other god who can do those things?
• And of course the answer is no.

(9-19) God gives a great description of the stupidity of idolatry.
• How stupid idolatry is.
• How foolish to trust in a strange god who cannot save and who has never saved.

(21-22) And then God calls them back to Himself again.

Do you see how strange idolatry is?
Do you see how foreign it is to just pick some other god
who has never saved to be the one you worship?

TURN TO: JEREMIAH 10:6-16
It is the same message: how stupid is idolatry!

Why would you abandon the God who actually created you and saved you for some strange foreign god who’s never done a single thing for you?

Jeremiah 2:11-13 “Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory For that which does not profit. “Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate,” declares the LORD. “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.”

It’s just foolish.

But we certainly understand where God is coming from here.
• You attend these feasts…
• You go through the motions…
• You sing the songs…
• You play the instruments…

But in your heart you love and serve and worship other gods.

If you want your worship to be pleasing to Me
(9) “Let there be no strange god among you; Nor shall you worship any foreign god.”

If you want to please Me then worship only Me.

And look, we may not worship specific foreign gods,
But you have to understand that all idolatry fits here.
• It could be our money…
• It could be our government…
• It could be our time…
• It could be our family…
• It could be our possessions…
• It could be our doctor…

Anything that we trust in for our happiness or safety or future…
Anything else that owns a piece of our heart that we will not give up…

Jesus described idols as weeds in the heart.
Luke 8:14 “The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”

And are we really to suppose that we can spend 6 days loving our idols
And then show up here for a scheduled worship service
And think that God will be pleased?

Jeremiah 7:9-11 “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ — that you may do all these abominations? “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD.”

GOD DESIRES DEVOTION.

He says, (10) “I, the LORD, am your God”
Leave all the others alone.

“I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it.”

Trust in Me!
• I’m the One who saved you!
• I’m the One who cares for you!
• Leave those others behind and worship and serve Me only.

And shouldn’t Israel have grasped that?

At Sinai:
Exodus 20:1-6 “Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

At Kadesh-barnea:
Deuteronomy 6:4-6 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.”

If they got nothing else, they were supposed to get this one thing.
• I am your God.
• You will have no others.
• You will love Me with all your heart.

Israel never did.
• They went through the motions, but they didn’t love God.
• And thus He was not pleased with their empty celebrations.

But now God has once again appealed to His people.
Put away your foreign gods and come to Me.

We’ll look at their answer.
God’s Requirement, God’s Revelation, God’s Reproach
#4 GOD’S REMORSE
Psalms 81:11-16

And there is the tragic answer.
“But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me.”

God said, “I don’t want your singing, I want your heart.”
And Israel said, “No”.

• They would go through the religious services…
• They would sing the songs…
• They would celebrate the feasts…
• They would check off the boxes…
• But they WOULD NOT give God sole possession of their heart.

(12) “So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices.”

And you certainly you know the tragic results of that.
(It’s the Romans 1 effect)
• When God allowed them to worship gods that couldn’t save,
• They faced peril and were not saved.
• They ended up destroyed by Assyria and Babylon.

If you trust in that which cannot save,
Then in the day of peril you will not be saved; that’s the reality.

And notice the grief of God.
Notice all the “WOULD HAVE” statements here.

It is God lamenting what could have been
If Israel had only determined to love and trust Him alone.

(13-16) “Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways! “I would quickly subdue their enemies And turn My hand against their adversaries. “Those who hate the LORD would pretend obedience to Him, And their time of punishment would be forever. “But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Look at what they could’ve had.
• I would’ve destroyed their enemies if they had only loved Me…
• I would’ve made their enemies bow down to Me, if they had loved Me…
• I would have fed them and blessed them immensely, if they had only loved Me…

It is the grief of God that Israel chose suffering
Because they were unwilling to give up their idols
And worship and serve Him only.

Incidentally you see this grief carry all the way into the New Testament.
Matthew 23:37-39 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! “For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!'”

Luke 19:41-44 “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

It was the same grief of Christ
For a people who were only interested in surface religion
But who refused to give their total love and devotion to Him.

And this grief also became the apostle’s grief.
Peter preached in Jerusalem.
Acts 3:17-26 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. “Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you. ‘And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ “And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’ “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

“If you’d just repent and return to God and trust in Jesus
God would send the time of restoration and His refreshing presence.”

But Israel has remained stubborn and obstinate,
Choosing rather to suffer than give up their idols.

And while we are not Israel we certainly must learn from such realities.
• OUR WORSHIP CANNOT JUST BE some traditional empty response to a schedule.
• OUR WORSHIP CANNOT JUST BE some form of empty attendance,
• Where we expect that God is pleased because we stood when were supposed to stand
• And we sang when were supposed to sing
• And we sat quietly through the service.

All things must be done with a genuine love for Him.
He saved us! He rescued us!

And all He has asked in return is that we love Him and no other.
That we love Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.

God’s call is that we desire Him more than anything else.
And God promises that those who love and worship Him
Will not be disappointed.

And perhaps this is why
• So many today attend church and yet find no fulfillment in God.
• Perhaps it is because their worship has not been worship at all.
• Perhaps they are merely going through the motions and therefore have never received the true blessing of knowing God.

We’ll close tonight with one last passage.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 58

Here again is that famous cry of God
To put away the empty routine of religion
And give your heart to seeking God
And then finding the true blessing of knowing Him.

We desire to sing a song that delights the heart of God,
Not one which only grieves Him.

Download Here:

Beware The False Gospel
Luke 20:45-21:4
September 6, 2020

• I realize it has been a few weeks since we have been in Luke’s gospel together.
• I hate it when we are forced to have such interruptions that break up our continuity and flow, but some things are beyond our control.
• Nevertheless, this morning we want to jump back into our study of Luke’s gospel.

As you have studied with us, you know that
There is a real feel here in Luke’s gospel
That he is really narrowing his focus in on the gospel.

Certainly Jesus is focused in that regard, and Luke has picked up on that.

We have said that ON ONE HAND Jesus is securing a crucifixion.
We’ve seen His behavior noticeably change to that which is far more confrontational and direct towards His enemies.
• Things like purposely fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah by entering Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt.
• Things like turning and condemning the crowd that cheered Him on during that parade.
• Things like declaring to the Pharisees that a failure to honor Him would secure judgment.
• Things like clearing the temple of the corrupt money trade there.
• Things like seizing the temple as His own place of preaching the truth.
• Things like condemning everyone who questioned what He was doing.

There can no longer be neutral ground.
You are either for Jesus or you must be against Him.
He is not allowing for men to be on the fence.

He is securing a crucifixion because apart from His death
No salvation can be purchased for the children of God. He has to die.

But ON THE OTHER HAND as Jesus is forcing the hand of the religious elite, Jesus is also preaching and clarifying the gospel.

In fact, Luke pointed that out for us.
Luke 20:1 “On one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel…”

That is what Jesus has been doing.
He has been “preaching the gospel”.

And it has afforded us a tremendous look at the gospel Jesus preached.

He began with THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE
(20:1-8) the religious leaders sort of surprise attacked Him asking who He thought He was to set up shop and teach in the temple.
• He responded by questioning them about the baptism of John, which spoke to the necessity of repentance.
• It was, by the way, a repentance which they had rejected.

He then spoke of THE NECESSITY OF FRUIT AND SUBMISSION TO GOD’S SON
(20:9-18) was the parable of the vine-growers who refused to produce fruit that the vineyard owner demanded.
• When the Son came, they killed Him, which is exactly what they would do to Jesus.

He then spoke of THE NECESSITY OF RENDERING TO GOD WHAT HE DESIRES
(20:19-26) as Jesus was questioned about paying taxes to Caesar
• He reminded that man must “render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s”
• It was a reminder that they owed God a debt of righteousness that they had failed to pay.

He then spoke of THE NECESSITY OF CONTEMPLATING THE COMING JUDGMENT.
(20:27-40) the Sadducees confronted Him about the resurrection with a bizarre hypothetical story.
• Jesus reminded that heaven is only for those who are worthy and that all will rise from the dead to give an account before God.
• These people were not ready for judgment.

And as we noted, every one of those messages
Produced the exact same result in the crowd.
ALL OF THOSE MESSAGES CONDEMNED.

In fact:
Luke 20:39-40 “Some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.” For they did not have courage to question Him any longer about anything.”

The first leg of the gospel is always to show men
Their need for the gospel, and Jesus effectively did that.

He then spoke of THE SALVATION WHICH COMES ONLY THROUGH HIMSELF.
(20:41-44) Jesus preached Psalms 110:1 about Himself as the Person of the Gospel. He is both God and Man.
• He is David’s Son the perfect human and rightful King, and substitute for humans.
• And He is David’s Lord, the God of all creation capable of paying an eternal debt.

And so if we were to sum up the gospel which Jesus has been preaching,
IT WOULD GO LIKE THIS.

• All the requirements of God are fulfilled only in the God/Man Jesus Christ.
• Sinners therefore must repent of their sin, and trust in Him
• That they might be made pleasing to God and escape the coming judgment.

That has been His message. That is the true gospel.

• Man is sinful, deficient before God, and headed to judgment.
• Christ alone is the only human to ever satisfy God’s righteous requirement, and therefore the only means of salvation to sinners.
• This salvation occurs when we repent, and confess Christ as Lord as David did, and are therefore justified through Him in God’s sight.

That is the gospel and that is what Jesus has been preaching.

But no sooner does Jesus finish articulating the true gospel than does He GIVE A VERY SOBER WARNING about those who preach a false one.

We read (45-46) “And while all the people were listening, He said to the disciples, “Beware of the scribes…”

It is apparent that from Jesus perspective
There is a great threat which exists among the people.

It is actually the threat of a false gospel.

And it is a threat that brings with it THE MOST OFFENSIVE AND CONFRONTATIONAL SERMON that Jesus ever preached.

You are likely more familiar with MATTHEW’S VERSION of the sermon.
• It is recorded in Matthew 23 where 8 times Jesus uses the phrase, “Woe to
you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites…”
• Jesus turns His gaze and fixes His sites right on the religious elite who are
standing in the temple.
• And He casts condemnation and woe upon them to the degree that He never
does any other time in Scripture.

And the reason?
They promoted a false gospel.

Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

In short, they preach a message that condemns men to hell.

And just to make sure we understand the gravity here.
Our world gets caught up in all sorts of justice scenarios today.
• “Social Justice” has been the dominating headline now for over a month.
• Certainly for years now we have been concerned about the grievous sin of abortion and the unjust slaughter of the unborn.

But as bad as things like racism or political corruption or even abortion actually are, they still cannot be compared
To the heinous crime of preaching a false gospel.

There is no greater sin you can commit against humanity than that.

For while there are certainly wrongs and injustices that are committed against humanity today which make life miserable and even bring death
A FALSE GOSPEL ACTUALLY CONDEMNS MEN TO HELL.

And perhaps that helps you understand why
• When Jesus went on His most vicious attack, it WASN’T against the
corruption of Rome or the injustice of racism.
• When Jesus went on His most vicious attack it WAS aimed at those who
distorted the gospel.

That is where Jesus pronounced His woe.
That is where Jesus pronounced His judgment.

And in Matthew’s gospel, it reads like a machine gun blasting
Of the religious leaders who propagated this false gospel.

Now LUKE’S GOSPEL at first appears to be a little scaled back.
When you read the same sermon in Luke’s gospel it doesn’t come with
The ferocity of pronouncing woe or calling men hypocrites.

And so the blow feels a little softened here.
But that is not the case.

Rather, Luke uses a different tactic
Which is meant to move the reader to absolute horror.

Luke shows you an example of a victim of the false gospel.
That victim comes to us in the first 4 verses of chapter 21.

And when you rightly understand what is going on in this woman’s life,
You will then understand why Jesus is so angry at the false gospel.

And hopefully you will also be moved to disdain and disgust
And therefore heed the warning that Jesus is giving.

So let’s talk a little bit about this false gospel Jesus is now warning against.
We can break our text down into 2 main points.
#1 THE WARNING
Luke 20:45-47

As we noted, Matthew’s gospel gives much more detail to the sermon,
And we will reference it,
But at its core the sermon is simply a warning to the disciples
About the damning effects of the false gospel.

AND EVEN MORE THAN THAT,
Jesus shows us exactly what the false gospel looks like.

And to answer quickly: IT LOOKS LIKE RELIGION.

(45-46a) “And while all the people were listening, He said to the disciples, “Beware of the scribes…”

Interesting to note that up in verse 39 it was the scribes who commended Him for silencing the Sadducees.
• But Jesus refuses to side with them.
• These men are clearly the enemy, and even though they have ceased questioning Him, Jesus is not finished.

The entire crowd, and especially the disciples
Need to know the truth about who they are.
And Jesus pulls no punches.

You can see 5 clear truths about these scribes that Jesus warns the disciples about, and they are all warnings that add up to a false gospel.

1) WHAT THEY DISPLAY (46a)
“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes…”

The scribes, by the way, were the notorious scholars of Israel.
They were the great theologians and experts on all things regarding God.

There was even sort of a heretical story floating around about a matter in heaven in which God was debating a person in heaven regarding a question about purity. To answer the debate a scribe was called to heaven to answer and settle the debate.

These men were firmly seated as models of orthodox theology
And there were never questioned.
That is until Jesus exposed them as preachers of a false gospel.

And the first point He made
Was with regard to their overly pious display before the people.

If you read the more detailed account in Matthew’s gospel you read:
Matthew 23:1-5 “Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.”

• They were men who constantly enforced rules upon others that they themselves were unwilling to follow.

• Their goal was simply to put forth a very pious and impressive display of their own righteousness by which they would impress others.

• Jesus mentioned there even the broadening of the phylacteries and the lengthening of the tassels on their garments.

That is what is pictured here in Luke’s gospel
When Jesus says they “walk around in long robes”.

Numbers 15:37-41 “The LORD also spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue. “It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God. “I am the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the LORD your God.”

This blue tassel was to be sewn on the hem of the garment
As a visible reminder of the importance of obedience to God.

The scribes, seeking to make a great show,
Lengthened their tassels so as to put on a greater display.

It was their way of saying that obedience was more important to them
Than it was to the average person.

• They liked to be noticed for it…
• They liked to be recognized as strict proponents of obedience to the Law…

That was their display.

2) WHAT THEY DESIRE (46b)
“and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets.”

Again, Matthew’s gospel fills in the gaps.
Matthew 23:6-12 “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. “But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. “Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. “But the greatest among you shall be your servant. “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”

Matthew’s gospel makes it clear that their objective was to receive for themselves the glory that only God deserves.
• They wanted to be called father, though only one is our Father.
• They wanted to be called teacher, though only one is the Teacher.
• They wanted to be called leader, though only one is the Leader.

Their goal was to clothe themselves
In the glory and honor that only belonged to God.

• They wanted to be esteemed, they wanted to be honored, they wanted to be glorified, and even worshiped.
• Men needn’t look to God for an example of holiness, men only needed to look at the Scribes…that was their mentality.

And Jesus said that is all they want.
They use their religious piety to gain human glory.

3) WHO THEY DEVOUR (47a)
“who devour widows’ houses,”

We will elaborate on this one more in a moment, but THE POINT was that
In their religious power and esteem, they preyed upon the weak.

All throughout the Old Testament, the prophets were clear that
God’s will was to care for the widow and vindicate the orphan,
But these men did just the opposite.

They took advantage of the weak and unsuspecting.
Matthew 23:13-15 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. [“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

In short, their quest didn’t stop with simply their own personal glory.
In their hypocrisy they also devoured the weak.
• They kept men out of heaven…
• They devoured widow’s houses…
• They led men straight to hell…

They weren’t innocent, they were defiling.
Jesus would later compare them to whitewashed tombs that looked beautiful on the outside, but inside were full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

Hence, they looked beautiful,
But all they offered was death and defilement to others.

Their fame and glory grew at the cost of the weak
And on the souls of condemned men.

To Jesus they were not beautiful, they were the worse form of evil.
They looked religious while they sent men to hell.

4) HOW THEY DECEIVE (47b)
“for appearance’s sake offer long prayers.”

They’re manner of hooking the unsuspecting
Was through their intense religious zeal.

Matthew 6:5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”

In short, they impress men with their religious lingo and jargon.
• They dress religious
• They walk religious
• They talk religious
• They even pray religious

But it is all a sham.
• They are not pleasing to God.
• They will not be rewarded by God.

THE ONLY THING THEY ACHIEVE through their hypocritical religion
Is to deceive men that they are devout.

All of their praying and preaching and benevolent work
Is only that they might convince the unsuspecting
That they are legitimate.

They deceive men by acting pious.
That is why Jesus favored the word HUPOCRETES
When speaking with them.

It was a word that meant “actor” and it is where we get our word for hypocrite.

Jesus knew their heart and He knew everything they did
Was only that it might deceive their audience.

5) WHAT THEY DESERVE (47c)
“These will receive greater condemnation.”

Be sure and notice the word “greater” there.

They will not just be condemned in hell, but they will receive the worst condemnation in hell.
• Worse than the rapists…
• Worse than the murderers…
• Worse than the sex traffickers…

I recently saw a quote by Paul Washer: “When Jesus comes back it’s not the liberal politicians who ought to be trembling, it’s the pastors…because so many have built their ‘ministries’ on the dry dead bones of unconverted church members.”

These religiously devout proponents of a false gospel
Will receive the hottest corners of hell.

Their punishment will be the most severe.
Because these men send people to hell with their false gospel.

WHAT IS THEIR GOSPEL?
That man pleases God through religious effort.

Is that not what they preach?
Is that not what their lives demonstrate?
• If you want to go to heaven then you must be religiously devout.
• If you want to go to heaven then you must work harder.
• If you want to go to heaven then you need longer tassels, longer prayers, more giving, greater devotion…

That is exactly what Jesus was exposing in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

They taught men that salvation was through strict observance of the Law. We call that legalism.

That if you are to be saved then you must earn it through your own devotion.

And that is what these men put forward every day of their lives.
And all they ever did was condemn themselves and their hearers.

Their legalistic message remains the worse message
This world has ever been taught.

• Worse than socialism…
• Worse than communism…
• Worse than racism…
WORSE THAN THEM ALL IS LEGALISM

And incidentally, you see this all throughout the New Testament.

Remember early on in the life of the church, there were some Judaizers who sought to get the Gentiles to be circumcised and come under the Law.

Acts 15:1 “Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Again:
Acts 15:5 “But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”

They were in effect telling the new Gentile believers that
“Believing in Jesus was fine, but if you want to be saved
There is some work that must be done on your part.”

Remember Paul’s response?
Galatians 1:6-9 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

The infamous “I DIDN’T STUTTER” passage.
Men who distort the gospel by adding works will go to hell.
Paul said it twice to make sure you get it.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians to defend his apostleship.
You will remember they were also plagued with false teachers.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.”

There they are again, just like the scribes Jesus confronted.
Men who act righteous and act religious but are actually servants of Satan.

Which is why Paul also warned the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 11:1-4 “I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”

• It was a message about the Spirit and about Jesus, but it was the wrong message.
• It was a deceptive message of legalism preached by people who disguise themselves in good works.

Or go to Paul’s letter to Timothy.
Remember Paul warned Timothy of a problematic message.

1 Timothy 4:1-4 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;”

Paul said those were doctrines of demons where men were told that in order to be pleasing to God they needed to abstain from certain foods or not get married.
It was legalism and Paul said it came straight from Satan.

Or look at Philippians.
Philippians 3:1-3 “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,”

Paul there warned of dogs and evil workers and “the false circumcision” (phonies) who teach men to put confidence in the flesh.

Is that not what the scribes did?
They walked around certain they were pleasing to God
Because of their long robes and longer prayers.

They taught men that the way to heaven
Is through strict religious adherence.

Even to the Colossians Paul wrote:
Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

Paul warned them of spiritual pirates
Who lead you away from reliance upon Christ.

And this is so false and so detrimental.
Here is why:
Colossians 2:9-14 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

Salvation only comes through the person and work of Christ.
• Only He satisfied God’s righteous requirements…
• Only He appeased God’s holy wrath…

But these men try to get you to work for what only Christ can give.
It looks good because it is so pious and religious
But the end is nothing but hell and destruction.

Paul would go on to say to the Colossians.
Colossians 2:16-23 “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) — in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

They look good, but they can’t save.

If you try to make any human work a condition for salvation
You are distorting the gospel.

And that includes things like bible reading, prayer, church attendance, baptism, communion, giving, evangelism, etc.

Those are all good things as EFFECTS OF salvation,
But if you try to make any of them conditions for salvation
Then you are preaching a false gospel

AND ACCORDING TO JESUS AND PAUL YOU WILL GO TO HELL FOR IT.

The true gospel receives all merit from Christ and Christ alone.
THERE ARE NO HUMAN WORKS THAT HELP TO SECURE IT.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Titus 3:4-7 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Romans 3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”

AND SO YOU SEE THE ISSUE.

Jesus has come into the temple preaching the true gospel.
• That sinful man must repent and trust in the Son in order that they might be
made pleasing to God.

The scribes have been preaching a message
• That says you must be more religious in order that you might please God.

AND JESUS EXPOSES IT AND CONDEMNS IT.

Now, as we said, Matthew’s gospel was much more detailed and appears at first to have been much harsher, but that isn’t necessarily the case.

Luke’s punch in the gut comes
When he shows you a victim of this heinous gospel.

So first you see the warning.
#2 THE VICTIM
Luke 21:1-4

Now, I know that likely your whole life
You heard this story as a crowning example of sacrificial giving.

Someone likely asked you to give and then probably brought up the widow who gave her last two cents and then held her up as a shining example of sacrificial giving.

That is not at all the point of this story.
1. Jesus hasn’t been talking about giving at all, He’s talking about the gospel.
2. Jesus does not commend this woman, He merely points her out.

This woman IS NOT an example for everyone to follow.
This woman IS a victim of the false gospel Jesus just condemned.

She is one of those widows who had been devoured back up on verse 47.

Let me show you.
(1) “And He looked and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury.”

Now these are all people who have bought the preaching of the scribes.
• They are all in effect blasting a trumpet when they give.
• They are following the lead of the religious elite.
• They are proving their piety through their outward display.
• They are in effect earning God’s favor through their giving.

(or so they think)

The false gospel of the scribes had been effective.

The problem is that there was no other means of salvation than this.

AND THAT PUT ONE WOMAN IN A TERRIBLE PREDICAMENT.

(2) “And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins.”

Important note here is the word “poor”
It is PENICHROS in the Greek.
And it speaks of “one who is poor but not one who is destitute”.

That is how this woman entered.
• She was poor, but she did have two pennies.
• And then, because she was told that salvation hung in the balance,
• She gave those two pennies to the treasury.

And then Jesus said:
(3-4) “And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.”

That should ring a bell.
Matthew 23:4 “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”

That’s exactly what they had done to her.

Now, Jesus calls her “this poor widow”

Only this time for “poor” He uses the word PTOCHOS
Which means “totally poor; reduced to begging.”

Now do you see what the gospel of the scribes did to this woman?
• They had convinced her that her only hope of salvation was through
giving her last two pennies.

This was not a commendable example of giving.
This was a tragic victim of the false gospel of the scribes.

Through their legalistic standards they had devoured her house
And laid upon her a burden none of them would bear.

THIS STORY IS SUPPOSED TO PUNCH YOU IN THE GUT.
• It is supposed to move you to pity.
• It is supposed to make you hate the effects of the false gospel.

(It’s like those wheel chairs that show up at a Benny Hinn crusade, and after taking their offering, they are ushered off to the side so that they will never make it on stage)

This woman is one of those people, and it’s supposed to make you sick
When you read about how they manipulated her.

BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT THE FALSE GOSPEL
DOES TO EVERYONE…EVENTUALLY.

And such is the reality of all legalistic preaching.
It puts on people a burden they cannot bear.
• You can give all you have…
• You can serve tirelessly…
• You can pray without ceasing…
And you will never satisfy God’s holy requirement.

You will end up poor, destitute, and still condemned.
That is the tragedy of the false gospel.

Perhaps you remember the story of Martin Luther and Yohan Tetzel.
• Remember he was the preacher who came to town selling indulgences that he might pay for his mighty cathedral.
• He would say, “whenever a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs”.

In the movie “Luther” there is actually a scene of a young single woman with a daughter who is poor and destitute. One day in great joy she runs to Martin Luther to show that she has spent all she has to purchase and indulgence for her daughter. Luther is grieved, he gives her back the money she spent and says regarding her certificate, “This is worthless”

Friend, I would remind you again of the gospel.

Salvation is a free gift through Jesus Christ
To those who trust in Him,
Not those who work for it or sacrifice for it.

Those who try to earn their salvation only end up being condemned to hell
For no man can pay the price that Christ alone was able to pay.

TURN TO: ISAIAH 55

That is the gospel.
• What gospel do you believe?
• What gospel do you preach?