Enduring the Perilous Times - Mark 13:1-3

7:30That I couldn't even begin to go through them all. The Middle Ages were full of them. And it was continent. Every continent seems to have one. Every generation seems to have one, two, three, many of them, many major ones. And I'm just giving you a few of them. There was in the 1700s, there was Anne Lee. She was a central figure to the Shakers. And she said that she embodied all the perfections of God in female form, and that she was actually Christ's female counterpart. Well, then there's the Baha Yula. He was born a Shiite, and he claimed to be the prophesied fulfillment of the promised one of all religions. So this guy embodied them on. He gave birth to the Baha'i faith. Then there was a guy from India, Mizrah Ahmed, in the 1800s. He claimed to be the awaited Mahdi. That's the Muslim Christ, and the Muslim 12th Imam, the highest figure. He said he was both. He was Christ and the Mahdi. Out of Korea, Reverend Moon, you've probably heard of him. There's ones that influenced great numbers of people like Reverend Moon. And then there's some that didn't get too far out of their town. There's a guy named Krishna Vinta. Now, he came out of San Francisco. He started the wisdom, knowledge, faith, and love fountain of the world in Simi Valley, California. He stated he was the Christ, the new Messiah, and he came from rocket ships somewhere out there and landed on earth, and then he died after being suicided. Bombed by a couple of members because they felt like he was mishandling funds and he was mishandling the women. Those two seem to go together quite frequently. But we can't really just say San Francisco's way out there because then we've got David Kores just right up the street and Waco. So then Jim Jones, People's Temple. You remember the big mass murder, suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. I mean, we could just go on through history. It is staggering the number of claimants that there are. And by the way, where we're on the subject, Islam also has its study of things to come, its eschatology, and based upon the written Quran and their hadith or their tradition, oral tradition, just like the Jews have their written words and their oral tradition, just like the Catholics have their written words and their oral tradition or their tradition, so do the Islam. And their view is that Jesus was not God. He was just a man. He was a prophet, that he did not die. He was taken up to heaven like Elijah, and he is right there with Allah right now, ready to come back at the bidding of the Mahdi. That is the 12th Imam. And this is the highest figure. He is the Christ figure, if you will. But he is higher than Christ. And just so you know, that he is going to come and he's going to make a peace agreement with the Jews that is going to last for about seven years. And the reign of the Mahdi will last these seven years in which he established. Establishes Islam on the earth. And he's got a sidekick that's going to come with him. And his name is Jesus, the Muslim version of Jesus. He's going to come down in Damascus near a minaret, and he's going to come and he's going to convince the world, and especially those Christians, that they were wrong about who he was. He's going to pray to the Mahdi, and he's going to lead the nations to embrace him. In fact, the Mahdi is seen riding on a white horse in their writings, and they even cite Revelation 6:1 coming on the white horse. Jesus is going to come back. He's going to come back with him. They're Jesus. So if you boil it all down, the 12th Imam is the biblical Antichrist. The Islamic Jesus is the false prophet of Revelation 13, 16, 19, 20. And then the Islamic Antichrist, they talk about this one that'll show up, and he is Jesus, the real one. He corresponds to the real Jesus. And the false Christ is going to slay the true Christ. So the forces are going to gather against him. So if the world goes according to Islamic eschatology, we're in for some more Christ coming on the scene. This is the nature of the last days. There are going to be these claimants to being Christ, to the highest position. This is the nature. This is the very nature and pattern of Satan. He wants to throw himself there at the top. Exalt himself above everything else. And this is why Jesus specifically told his disciples, this shall not be this way with you. You are not going to rule, or your place of leadership is not going to be to lord it over. That's the pattern of Satan. But Jesus says, all this is going to happen. There's going to be deception. Expect it to happen, but do not be deceived. So there's going to be deception. Second, there's going to be war. Look at verse 7. When you hear of wars and rumors of war, do not be frightened. Those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. The wars, literally, there's going to be armed conflicts. And there's going to be rumors of wars, reports of wars. And this prophecy has proven true. I thought I'd put together a nice little list of the wars that have taken place the last 2,000 years, only to start looking into and say it's absolutely impossible to put them all together for you. And those of you who know history know what I'm talking about, but I'll just give you a few. World War II, you know that one? Casually somewhere between 40 and 70 million estimates. In the 1200s, there was the Mongol conquest, somewhere between 30 and 60 million. There was the, in China, in the 1300s, there was the transition to where the Ming dynasty came into power, and there was a 30 million or so dead in that one. A few centuries later, when the Qing dynasty took over the Ming dynasty, there was about another 25 million casualties. You know, World War I. Somewhere 15, 20, 30 million. Taiping rebellion in China, their estimates are anywhere from 20 million up to 100 million. And you just go on through history, the numbers are just staggering. And when you start looking at the wars, these are the ones, these are the big wars. But then you start looking through history at the number of wars and you look at the history of the last 2,000 years has been one of continual conflict, wars, and rumors. It's a perfect description of the last 2,000 years. And in verse 8, it says, there will be wars because nation will rise against nation. The word there is ethnos. Ethnos will rise against ethnos. It's the word we get ethnic group. Ethnic group, one people group will rise against another people group. And kingdom, that is political power against political power. The history of the earth is going to be characterized by the competing interests of men. That's what Jesus said. It's a fallen world. It's going to continue. He knows he can prophesy this so clearly because he understands the nature of man and he understands how it's going to pan out. And he says, see to it that you do not let such wars frighten or alarm you. These things are going to be characteristic of a fallen world throughout the generations because man is selfish and he naturally competes. The world isn't going to end like this. Man isn't going to destroy the world. No, world wars are not even the sign. Of the end. They are just merely the birth pangs. So there's going to be deception. There's going to be war, but there's also going to be disaster. Look at verse 8. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will also be famines. These things are merely the birth pangs. So there's going to be earthquakes. Guess what I did? I just wanted to get you a list of earthquakes. And again, started going through. The numbers are just profound. There was one in the 1500s where there was somewhere between 820 and 830,000 people killed in China. Haiti, a couple of years ago, according to Haitian sources, over 300,000 were killed. Somewhere, the U.S. sources, somewhere around, you know, between 50 and 100. You remember the Indian Ocean, Christmas Day, or the day after Christmas in Sumatra, killed, let's see, somewhere around 230,000 people. Just the one in Japan. Luke refers to that there will be seismus megalas. You get the word? Seismics? Big ones. Big seismic activity. Well, just like that. As I was looking at this, I went to the latest and greatest website that records all the earthquakes, and just yesterday there were 25 earthquakes over 2.5 or bigger. And if you factor in all the smaller earthquakes, there is over a half a million earthquakes each year. And these just scratch the surface. But there's going to be earthquakes. Then there's going to be famines. Guess what? In the last 2,000 years, there have been. Well, over 1,800 major famines in China alone. There was over 95 severe famines in Britain just during the Middle Ages. You just go through time. The great famine in Ireland killed more than a million people in the 1800s, and over one and a half to two million people immigrated. A lot of them came to the United States. If you have an Irish descent, that may be when you came over. Just throughout history, there have been these famines, and Luke adds plagues. Mark doesn't put the plagues in here, but when you start factoring in the plagues caused by the bubonic plague, the great influenzas, the typhoid, the smallpox, and all these things, the death tolls are just staggering. This is what Jesus is saying. These things are going to happen. These disasters are going to come. And the disasters themselves are reminders that the earth is under a curse. And they also demonstrate that man is not in control of his destiny. You see one of those big tidal waves coming, you realize there's not much you can do. You see, such disasters, they should humble us. And they should force us to think upon the deeper issues of life. They should make us long for a better world. But this world is still under a curse. Another thing about these things is they curb the advance of human advance in sin. You know, and sometimes it's good. And I don't claim to know all the purposes that God has for such disasters. And I'm going to stand up here and say that I do, but I do think that sometimes it is good for people. To focus on the basics of life and to be thankful for the simple things. I remember my dad's testimony of the Great Depression. He was a young boy during the Great Depression in the United States. And he looked back and he said, you know, those were actually good times. He said, everybody was at home. Nobody had jobs. I guess everybody was home. He said the family was all close there. They had everything that they needed, and there was a lot of time spent together. He said, extended families, stayed close, played a lot of checkers. But all these things, deception, war, disaster, they also provide opportunity for the gospel because no one's separated. Christian and non-Christian are going to suffer in these catastrophes as well. And it provides the opportunity to show who we are and to let the world know who He is. Well, there's going to be a fourth thing. There's also going to be persecution. There's going to be persecution. Look at verse 9. But be on your guard, for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them. So deceivers came to destroy the church from the inside. Persecutors are going to come to destroy the church from the outside. They are going to hand you over, much like Jesus was handed over, betrayed. You're going to be in the synagogues. That is the realm of the Jewish court system. You're going to be handed over to governors. That's in the realm of the Gentile court system. And persecution. Is going to reach its extreme. That's going to be characteristic of the last days. I would say, as we look in here, there are going to certainly be extreme modes of persecution, but I would say most of you aren't going to go out and be threatened with your life for the gospel. Not anytime in the next few days, anyway. But some of you will experience more mild forms of persecution, and some of you buckle under even the more mild forms. So just because we're seeing great extreme limits on persecution, don't be unaware that there are more subtle forms of rejection out there. Prepare to stand through them. So there's going to be deception, there's going to be war, there's going to be disaster, there's going to be persecution. These things take time, okay? There's going to be some historical development. There's a school of thought out there that sees all these events being fulfilled in 70 AD, just 40 years after Jesus uttered these words. They're called preterists. And they also see that not only are these events filled, but the abomination of desolation event has been filled, and the second coming of Christ has been fulfilled, all in 70 AD. They're preterists. Don't go there. Jesus purposely is speaking about historical development. Wars and rumors and wars take time. So Jesus has a very pessimistic view of the future. Things are going to go from bad to worse, and ultimately they're going to culminate in the final expression of human depravity and human rebellion, and that's going to be in the abomination of desolation. Desolation in the next section. So, how do you prepare to stand, to endure the days ahead? Understand the nature of the last days. But also, you need to understand God's purpose for the last days. What is God's purpose for these last days? Look at verse 10. The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. Simply stated, God's purpose for the last days is for the gospel to be proclaimed. Gospel proclamation. That's his purpose. That's why he left his people in the world. And what is the gospel? Three things. It's called the kerygma. It's what you see the apostles preaching through the New Testament: the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ, death of Christ, that the penalty for sin has been paid, the burial, that those in Christ have been buried with him, so that the penalty, the remembrance, they are gone for good. Sin is gone, that the guilt, free from sin, the penalty has been paid by his death. The separation from the guilt of sin is in this burial and the resurrection, the newness of life, being identified with Christ in his life, that new life has begun, a new life that is connected with God, a life that is connected with a new heart, a new spirit, one that wants to please God, that does not walk in the death, the separation. So, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ. And by repenting of your sins and placing your faith and trust in Christ, you become identified with Him in His death, in His burial, and His resurrection. This is the gospel. This is the Good news. This is what he wants proclaimed to all the nations. Why? The nations need the gospel. They need to hear the gospel. They need the gospel proclaimed. You see, the gospel is the solution for the direction that mankind is going. And that's why he leaves his people in the world, so that they will proclaim the gospel. See, the people of this world need to know the Father's heart. Ezekiel 33:11 says this: Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Listen to the heart of God: Turn back, turn back from your evil ways. That is the father heart of God. It says, I do not delight in the destruction of the wicked, but I delight that the wicked would turn and place their faith and trust in me and be identified with my son in his death and his burial and his resurrection. That is the message. And this is the solution for ethnics, fighting ethnos. This is a solution for the nations. This is a solution for a people that are hell-bent on their own way. They need the gospel. God's purpose for the last days is that the gospel would be proclaimed. But I want you to see the role that persecution plays in gospel proclamation. Look at verse 9. Persecution plays a critical role in the gospel being proclaimed. But be on your guard, for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flawed. In the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them. In other words, you're going to stand out there, and you're going to give a testimony to them. He goes on, verse 11, when they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given to you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. There is the promise. If ever there's a place where there's going to be inerrant speech that pours forth again, it's right here under that hour of persecution. And he's not giving new revelation, but divine wisdom to refute anyone who brings something contradictory. And he's telling his people, don't worry, you're going to face this, but don't start worrying about that right now. It's going to be given to you. The divine wisdom, the ability, God is going to be present with you so that you will be able to refute them. Don't worry. Very comforting, right? Now, what that passage does not mean is you don't have to study for your sermon and just get up in the pulpit and say whatever's on your mind. I have heard this, people refer to this passage as a testimony. You don't have to prepare your lessons. No, that's the wrong context. The context here is intense persecution. That adds a whole nother meaning to when Jesus tells his disciples in Acts 1, you will be my witnesses. He says, yeah, you will be, because you're going to be arrested and you're going to be taken before judges and synagogues and you're going to be flogged. And this is really the history. Of Acts, is it not? You look at Peter, drugged before the courts, divine wisdom refutes them. You see Stephen, same thing, drugged before them. And what does he do? Refutes their arguments, takes them to task. And you see Paul standing there. And this is the history of Acts. And then Paul stands before governors as a testimony to proclaim the gospel. Five times he was flogged. You see, suffering and persecution provides that opportunity to proclaim the gospel. Because you see, Christianity is not just some ivory tower religion. It's one that deals with the true issues of the heart. No one's going to go and die for Christ unless they really believe it's true. That's when the testimony sounds the loudest and most clear, is when you are willing to suffer for his namesake and for his gospel. So to prepare to endure the end times, the last days, you need to understand the nature of the last days and you need to understand God's purpose for him. But third, you need to be prepared to suffer extreme rejection. So how do you prepare to suffer? Well, you settle three things in your heart. If you're going to suffer extreme rejection, you must first settle that Jesus is above all other relationships. Look at verse 12. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father, his child, and children will rise up against his parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all. All because of my name. What Jesus is saying is: look, in this world that is going apart from God and continue to go apart from God, there is going to be this characteristic of them to hate Jesus or to continue to grow in their hatred of Jesus. So the last days are going to be characterized by a growing hatred of Jesus. And this hatred is going to be expressed by mistreating his people. And that is how rejecting Christ looks like in our time. A rejection and a mistreatment of his people. This hatred is going to get so intense at times that it's going to sever even the closest of relationships, even the most natural ones. Father, child, very intense hatred. And only those who have set Jesus above all other relationships are going to be able to endure this kind of extreme rejection. So settle it in your heart. Be prepared to suffer the rejection and put Jesus above all other relationships. And the good thing about this is that those of you who do, you'll never be disappointed because Christ has promised he'll never leave or forsake you. So though all other forsake you, your number one relationship is going to be good throughout eternity, no matter what. And the sad reality of our times is that many people have not set Jesus above every other relationship. And so they go through life ashamed of Jesus. And not even heavy-duty persecution. I'm talking pretty mild stuff. Here. Just being ashamed of Jesus in any setting is a good indication that you have not settled in your heart that it's Jesus above all other relationships. Don't let this be you. Second thing you need to settle in your heart: Jesus before self. Not only is it Jesus above all other relationships, but Jesus before self. You're not going to endure intense rejection for the name of Jesus unless you have placed Jesus before yourself. In other words, unless he is first in your life, before other relationships and before yourself, you're not going to endure the intense rejection. You see, because we naturally, by nature, we naturally shy away from difficult situations. That's kind of what we do by nature. And oftentimes, if you have to modify where you want to go, if there's an easier road, you'll go someplace else. And you see, we have to train ourselves to do the opposite because, by very nature, we go through life taking the path of least resistance. In fact, our military understands this, or it did understand this at one time. There's a cadet prayer at West Point that reads this: O God, encourage us in our endeavor to live above the common level of life. Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong. Why do they have a prayer like that? Because they know by nature they're going to have to make some of the harder choices and live above the common life instead of taking the easier road. You see, we must train ourselves not to always take the Easier road. It's a discipline we have to cultivate. And this is what Jesus wants for his disciples. In fact, a few chapters ago in Mark chapter 8, he says this. He summons the crowd with his disciples, and he says to everyone, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's sake will save it. So, brothers and sisters, make it your ambition to lose your life for Christ's sake and for the gospel's sake. Jesus before self. He died so others can live. Let us live so that this can be proclaimed however he chooses to use us in that proclamation. Jesus before self. But third, you need to settle that it's Jesus to the very end. Jesus above all the other relationships, Jesus before self, Jesus to the very end. Look at verse 13. You will be hated by all because of my name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. The word for the end is tell us, to the complete, literally to the very last breath. That's how you need to settle your relationship with Christ. That Jesus is above all other relationships, that Jesus is before self, to the very last breath of my being. Purpose in your heart that the praise of his name and the glories of his gospel will always be found upon your lips as long as you have breath. Breath. And those who have settled this issue have overcome the devil. Listen to these incredible words of Revelation 12. Verse 7 speaks about there was war in heaven. In verse 9, the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan. And then in verse 10, he says, Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when they were faced with death. Who overcame who? They, the brethren, overcame him, the devil, Satan, the serpent of old. How? By the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, that they had committed themselves even to the very last breath. That's an incredible statement. Overcoming Satan himself. You see, those who have set Jesus above all other relationships and Jesus before self and Jesus to the end have overcome the greatest adversary of all time. And if you have settled this in your heart, you have overcome the devil. And the rest of your life will just be the historical testimony to the reality that you have overcome. And that's what life is. About. This is what taking up your cross is about. Settling these things in your heart and then letting the rest of your life just be a historical testimony that you have overcome the very adversary himself by the blood of the Lamb and by the fact that this life means nothing compared to his riches. These are the people that God has raised up for these last days. And they will be shaken and they will be tried. They will be pelted from different areas. But as they go through, the harder they get hit, the louder their proclamation to the truth of God and the glories of his Christ will be. And that gospel will go out. This is God's purpose for the last days that you and I are part of. It is a time of great ingathering of the harvest. So, how does one endure the perilous times of the last days? I hope by now you're not just wanting to endure, but you're wanting to thrive, seize the opportunities, the place that God has put you in, and use those difficult times and those persecutions in your life and the things that come up on the earth as an opportunity for you to be a witness to Him, to a world who desperately needs it. But how does one endure? You understand the nature of the last days. You understand the purpose for the last days, and you get prepared to suffer extreme rejection. And see, the good news is for. All people, and I hope you're excited about what God is doing in our times. Heavenly Father, we recognize that we have the answer, and it is found in you, in your death, in your burial, your resurrection, and that a right relationship can be had with you by simply repenting of our sins and placing our faith and trust in you alone for salvation. God, I just thank you for the work that you've begun. I pray for those here who do not know you this morning personally as Lord and Savior, that they would use this moment to even call upon you right now. Father, help us as a body and as individuals, Lord, to settle this issue in our heart. You above all things, of all relationships, above self, to the very last breath. Father, we thank you, and we recognize that it's not something we're going to be able to do unless your Spirit enables us to do it. And so we ask you to do this in us. Forgive us where we have set other relationships above you, where we have wanted our way instead of your way. Father, forgive us. This is our nature. But we look to your gospel. We look to the cross, and we confess this, and we call upon your name to deliver us so that we would truly be all that you want your disciples to be. For it's in Jesus' name we pray.