Transcript
Well we've been looking the last couple of weeks at what is known as the
spiritual disciplines. And spiritual disciplines you will recall are things
that you and I can do indeed must do. If on the one hand we are to avoid idolatry
and on the other hand keep our hearts yielded and pliable before God. And so
far we have looked at four spiritual disciplines that can help us on our
journey. We've looked at the discipline of solitude, the discipline of prayer, the
discipline of Bible reading, and then the discipline of corporate worship.
Gathering together like we are this morning to praise God and to seek his
face and to learn from him. And the classic text that we were looking at two
weeks ago is Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 where scripture says, "Let us not give up
meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one
another and all the more so as you see the day approaching. Let us encourage one
another." And we have seen that one of the purposes of corporate worship, but it's
only one of many, but one purpose of corporate worship is for you and me to
encourage each other in our Christian journey. And the reason for that is that
as Christians we find ourselves really in an odd situation because as
Christians we are spiritually seated with Christ in heavenly places. We are
citizens of God's kingdom and we are committed to God's values. But at the
same time we live in the here and now, a world that is often controlled by Satan
that is characterized by many idols of our lives and there isn't a day that
goes by for you and me when there isn't a downward pull away from God into the
world of idolatry. And the Apostle Paul sums it up this way in 2 Corinthians
chapter 11, the verses 2 and 3, when he says to the church in Corinth, "I am
jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promise you to one husband, to Christ, so
that I might present you as a pure virgin to him." But then he goes on to say,
"But I'm afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your
minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ."
God is a jealous God. He wants your heart and my heart to belong to him. And again,
one of the purposes of corporate worship is to encourage each other to forsake
the idols of our hearts and to be increasingly fully devoted to the person
of Jesus Christ. That's what Hebrews talks about when it says, "Let us encourage
one another." And it does so then in the context, and I touched on this very
briefly two weeks ago, it does so in the context of the approaching day of the
Lord. Let us encourage one another and all the more so as you see the day
approaching. I want to talk about that a little bit more with you this morning
because it dovetails very neatly with the lament that Jesus does over Jerusalem
in the Palm Sunday story. The day of the Lord, as you know, is the day when God
visits his people, steps decisively into human history for the purpose of
establishing his kingdom. And you have a foretaste of that in the Palm Sunday
story when Jesus comes to Jerusalem, which is the city of peace, the center of
the temple worship, the place where you would expect the highest level of
spirituality. And the fact that he doesn't find that there but that he weeps
over this city is an indication of how far God's people had sunk over against
the true and the living God. Now it's really important for us to understand
that biblically speaking, the day of the Lord, which is a technical phrase used
half a dozen times in the New Testament and in varying forms, day of the Lord, day
of wrath, day of judgment occurs multiple times throughout all of Scripture, but it
has two components. It always has two sides. And the first side is one that we
don't like very much, but it's the utter destruction of everything that is not of
God. It is utter and absolute judgment and desolation on every knee, every
structure that refuses to bow to the authority of God. Isaiah the prophet put
it this way many years ago. He said, Isaiah 13, 9, 10, and 11, he said, "See the day of
the Lord is coming." There you have that phrase, the day of the Lord is coming. "A
cruel day with wrath and fierce anger to make the land desolate and to destroy
sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show
their light. The rising Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its
light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will
put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the
ruthless." How many of you here have heard of the phenomenon called blood moon?
Anybody here heard it of late? Blood moon refers to a manifestation, it's a
lunar eclipse where the Sun and the Earth and the moon all line up and
because of that the moon turns blood red and it's going to happen four times over
the next year. The first time it's going to happen is this coming Tuesday night
beginning around 2 o'clock and then it happens again later on in October, it
happens in April 4 of next year and then September 28. It's very unusual because
hundreds of years go by when there isn't a blood moon at all and I'm not one to
read too much into signs in the heavens but you will recall that Jesus talks in
other passages about signs in the heavens and the moon turning to blood and
so there are prophetic types, John Hagee from Texas being one of them, who
believes that these are signs of what God is about to do in the world. I'm not
ready to make that conclusion but I call your attention to the fact that when the
day of the Lord comes there are signs in the heavens, the universe begins to fall
apart, there are other places says Jesus, men's hearts will fail them for fear
because the whole created order that we've taken for granted will start to
collapse. So the day of the Lord comes as a day of judgment and you see glimpses
of that in this Palm Sunday story. We we think of the hosannas, we think of the
children, dancing and singing and all the good things that are happening and
appropriately so but there is another side to the story and that is the fact
that Jesus speaks words of condemnation to everything and everybody that is out
of tune with the will of God and so he cleanses the temple. Why? Because they've
turned God's house of prayer into a marketplace, a den of robbers. He curses
the fig tree. Why? Because it is a representation of the judgment that's
coming on Israel because they have broken covenant and then of course here
in the passage that we've read together what does he do? He weeps over Jerusalem
of only you had known what peace would be accomplished by which of course is to
yield to his authority, painful but a biblical reality that we cannot
possibly escape but there's another side because it's never just about tearing
down the old building it's all about putting up a new building and so the
second component is let me backtrack for just a moment and say that this Luke
passage was literally fulfilled in AD 70 when the Roman soldiers under Titus
came and laid siege to Jerusalem. "The days will come upon you said Jesus when
your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you
in on every side they will dash you to the ground you and the children within
your walls they will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize
the time of God's coming to you." In AD 70 the Roman army under Titus laid siege
to Jerusalem they built an embankment all the way around the city that looked
like this I don't know if you can see that but if these are the city walls
what the Romans did is they built an embankment all the way around that city
I understand historically it only took them three days to do that which is
unbelievable and after a long siege the Romans whose main camp was here they
managed to break first through one wall then through a second wall eventually
put the whole city to fire Josephus the historian who was involved in trying to
negotiate peace between the Israelites and the Roman soldiers says that 1.1
million Jews died on account of that siege and 97,000 of them were led off as
slaves the hunger was so bad that the people were eating their own children
this is the city of God and this is the literal fulfillment of what Jesus is
prophesying about but to move on as I said the purpose of judgment is never
just to destroy it's to tear down the old building it's to clear the rubble so
that a new building in this case the kingdom of God can be properly
reestablished and so the second side of this day of the Lord is the restoration
of all things and Isaiah who more than any other Old Testament prophet I think
saw so clearly the reality of the gospel as it would be fulfilled in the Lord
Jesus also foresaw that day listen to these words behold I will create new
heavens and a new earth the former things will not be remembered nor will
they come to mind but be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy I will
rejoice over Jerusalem notice the contrast Jesus weeps but there is coming
a day when he's going to rejoice take delight in my people the sound of
weeping and crying will be heard in it and no more what does that passage remind
you of in terms of the New Testament Revelation 21 where John says I saw the
heavenly city the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband here you have thousands of years ahead of time
Isaiah the prophet seeing what it is that God is after he is building a
kingdom where he is truly at the center where people are at peace with him city
of peace remember at peace with each other and where life will last forever
and ever because creation has been restored and again you see echoes you
hear echoes of that in the Palm Sunday story particularly in Matthew's gospel
because what does Jesus do he not only comes to preach the good news of the
kingdom not only telling the people how to be part of that and to experience
that reality but he also heals the blind and the lame much to the chagrin of the
religious leaders because all these children are running around the temple
shouting hosanna you know blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord and
it's chaos because there is so much joy it offends their religious sobriety but
it's the coming of the kingdom of God because what does God take delight in
God takes the light in restoration God takes the light in forgiveness God takes
the light in reconciliation God takes delight in people living obediently
before gone so the day of the Lord on the one hand is a day when God comes
along with his bulldozer and he just runs roughshod over everything that falls
short of his perfection and let me just alert you to the fact that when judgment
comes mercy is lacking God holds off as long as he can but when it becomes clear
that the world will not listen to him don't ever think that God is just going
to sit around winking look at what has happened historically look at what
happened to his Old Testament people and you get an understanding how the wrath
of God is the reverse side of God's love don't ever fool around with it at the
same time it's never an end in itself it's always for the purpose of
restoration now here's what I want us further to understand about the day of
the Lord which is such a theme that runs throughout all of scripture and that is
the fact that biblically and historically it happens on two levels
it happens first of all at the end of history and we're all familiar with that
teaching of scripture mark puts it this way mark 13 26 and 27 at that time men
will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory and he
will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds from the ends
of the earth to the ends of the heavens the Bible makes it very clear that
history is we know it does not continue indefinitely it had a beginning in the
creation of the world and it's going to have a very specific end and that in
comes when Jesus returns in glory the first time he came incognito he came as
a little baby helpless at the mercy of the powers that were but the Bible makes
it very clear that when he comes the second time he doesn't come in weakness
he comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords riding on a white horse a name on
his thigh according to the book of Revelation that nobody knows but himself
but he's going to come to judge the living and the dead and he comes to
establish his eternal kingdom all the nations will be gathered before him and
he's going to separate the sheep from the goats and to the sheep he's going
to say welcome blessed of my father inherit the kingdom that has been
prepared for you from before the foundation of the world and to the goats
he's going to say depart from me you workers of iniquity into the lake of
fire prepared for the devil and his angels it will be a day of great grief
on one hand where the nations cry out for the mountains to fall upon them and
the hills to cover them and for God's people to rejoice incredibly because
finally they will be delivered from everything that has bound them and they
will see the Lord's presence and experience it in a glory that we cannot
even begin to imagine the day of the Lord is the second coming of the Lord
and if you read Matthew 24 and if you read Mark 13 and Luke 21 you get there
some pretty clear imagery of what that looks like the terror that the world
will go through in order to get there but also the glory and the joy that is
going to be revealed when Jesus comes on the clouds of heaven as you know the
name Maranatha was given to this community by the early founding fathers
because it is the ancient cry of the church our Lord come throughout the
course of history God's people the more they have been in tune with him the more
they have been oppressed by the powers of the world the more they have been
troubled by the patterns of sin that runs so deep the more they have cried
out come Lord Jesus change this world and make it near it is the ultimate hope
of all of God's people and just for the record a good way to test our
spirituality is to ask yourselves the question to what degree am I longing for
looking for the coming of God's kingdom my father used to tell the story about a
very nearsighted professor who was always telling his students and
theological studies about the second coming and how eager he was for it and
so some of his students thought they'd play a trick on him he had this little
prayer mat that he would kneel on before he'd go to bed at night and they tied
rope to each of the four corners of the prayer mat and I don't know how his
house was structured but they were upstairs tugging on those four ropes and
when he was praying away as he usually did for the Lord to come they started
to lift him up and the true motivation of his heart was revealed because all of
a sudden he found himself ascending into heaven and he said but Lord not yet I
wasn't really counting on it that quickly but here's the other thing I
want us to note about the day of the Lord it not only happens at the end of
history it happens repeatedly in the course of
history that is to say God as ruler and judge overall keeps an eye on the course
of sin and when the weeds of sin become too big and too tall and threaten to
drown out the crop of righteousness as happens historically repeatedly then God
as the ruler overall steps in cuts down the weeds and cultivates a new crop
people often ask the question well how come God doesn't step in every time
something goes wrong how come he doesn't protect or defend me more quickly the
answer is that God has appointed seasons of judgment and seasons of
restoration if God took you or me to task every time we did something wrong
or every time somebody else did something we'd all be in a lot of trouble
wouldn't we and so as Paul says earlier on in his speech in Acts chapter 14 that
we've been looking at up until now he says God led nations all go their own
way that doesn't mean he's turning a blind eye it means that he's letting
sin go until it reaches a certain critical mass and then when it reaches a
mass that can threaten the well-being of the whole created order then God as
judge overall steps into the situation wipes things out and starts all over
again and I can point to many examples in Scripture the story of Noah anybody
here see the latest Noah movie that's out in theaters some of our family saw
it the other day my son was mightily distraught over the particular
interpretation the movie gives and the license that it takes with the biblical
story but the story of Noah is a story where God looks at the world and sees
that the thoughts of men are evil continually and he says if I let this go
on cancer will kill the whole organism and so he steps in exercises judgment as
an act of mercy saves Noah and his family and he starts all over again
similarly the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah one of the classic examples in
the Old Testament of love gone wrong a community that has not only turned to
homosexuality but a community that has has used its resources for its own
selfish purposes and God steps in and he says enough is enough if that spreads
any further was going to destroy the whole world and so he steps in and he
judges Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and and fire brimstone in Old Testament language
falls down and only lot and his two daughters escape his wife turned around
you will recall her heart was still back there and she turned into the proverbial
pillar of salt and throughout all the scripture that that story is used as an
example of what happens when sin runs rampant I remember Ruth Graham the late
wife of Billy Graham made the observation at one point that if God does
not judge North America for its sin then he's going to have to apologize to
Sodom and Gomorrah for what he did to them those are sobering words there's
the exile of Israel God's own people they said God will never judge us
because we're his covenant people we've got the temple here God says watch me
first Israel got shipped off to Assyria most of them never came back then in
586 BC Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem destroyed it cut it off the
bulk of the of the people into exile and they were in exile for 70 brutal years
and you see example upon example biblically and you see that here too in
the New Testament with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 one of the most
horrific battles of all time in fact the Emperor Titus who later became emperor I
believe was so upset by how the whole business had transpired that that he
didn't want to accept a wreath of victory because he said he was only a
tool in the hand of God unleashing his wrath on God's chosen people interesting
side light to that story you know the Western wailing wall is still there
that's part of the original temple structure the sand or the Antonio it's
not quite the right name but there's a fortress that's there too he
deliberately left those standing so that it would serve as a testimony to history
that how great was the was the Jewish culture and the Jewish people that he
had brought to their knees and if you go to Rome today you can still find an arch
of triumph for his soldiers are pictured as carrying off I believe the menorah or
the the lampstand that had been part of the temple of God in history God
exercises judgment not because that is his character but like a surgeon who
surgically attacks cancer with everything that he can so that cancer
will not triumph but good can be established now here's what I'm getting
to here's what Hebrews is after when it starts to rain it's too late to build an
ark you know that when Jerusalem is surrounded by the enemy it's too late to
try to drum up your soldiers and equip them to fight back the preparation has
to happen much earlier and that is why Hebrew says encourage one another all
the more so as you see the day drawing near if there is one theme that is
repeated throughout all of scripture is that the day of the Lord whether it's
the final day or the day when God judges nations or cities or peoples judgment
almost always comes unexpectedly to the bulk of the people it comes as a thief
in the night Jesus puts it this way Matthew 25 verse 36 no one knows about
that day or the hour not even the angels in heaven nor the Sun but only the
father then he goes on and this is Luke's version of it to describe what
those days will be like when the Son of Man comes unexpectedly as it was in the
days of Noah so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man people were
eating drinking marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered
the ark then the flood came and destroyed them all it was the same in the days of
lot people were eating and drinking buying and selling planting and
building but the day lot left Sodom fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and
destroyed them all it will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is
revealed now I wonder is there anything that strikes you in the comparison that
Jesus makes to the days of Noah and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah see we
associate both of those events with serious wickedness right God judged the
world in the days of Noah because the thoughts of all men was evil only
continually and he judged Sodom and Gomorrah because they were corrupt
through and through to the very core of their being and so you would think Jesus
would say as it was in the days of Noah because everybody was bad or as it was
in the days a lot because everybody was bad therefore God sent judgment but
that's not what he says is that what does he say what were they doing eating
drinking buying selling marrying and being given in marriage so I ask you
what's wrong with any of those activities and the answer is nothing so
what was their problem they were preoccupied with the here
and now at the expanse of our relationship with God and because they
were so preoccupied with a regular business of doing life their eyes were
blinded to the fact that their sins were piling up to heaven and God was about to
come in judgment they were totally ignorant they didn't see it coming and
when it came it was like a big flood that just washed them all away because
they had not made preparation for the coming of the day of the Lord what
parable of Jesus in Matthew 25 hint hint does that remind you of something about
girls the five wise and the five foolish virgins remember they were going out to
meet the bridegroom this is in Luke's gospel because you see Luke is trying to
help the people understand why the coming of the day of the Lord wasn't
coming as quickly as everybody thought it was coming and so he says they came
to meet the bridegroom but the bridegroom was delayed in coming and so
they all fell asleep and while they were asleep their lamps were going out and
the five wise girls what did they do they had brought extra oil along they
were in it for the long haul they filled up their lamps they were ready to meet
the bridegroom when he came unexpectedly the five other girls they were in
trouble they said share your oil with us and the other said well we can't
because then there won't be enough for either of us go out and buy some more so
what happened while they were out buying more oil the bridegroom came they missed
the party and then and this is really troubling when they came to knock on the
door to get into the party what did the bridegroom say I never knew you so
here's the emphasis in scripture of being prepared for the day of the Lord
whatever that looks like if it isn't the second coming then it's the movement of
God in history and if it isn't the movement of God in history we've said
before any one of us can drop dead at any moment and face the coming of the
day of the Lord in our own lives Jim Flaherty surprising death this past week
was a sobering reminder once again of how quickly that can all happen so the
key is to be ready on time that's why Hebrew says let us encourage one
another all the more so as you see the day approaching how do we do that very
quickly three ideas and then we'll be done this morning number one we need to
cultivate our relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ acts 412
a verse we've often quoted here salvation is found in no one else there
is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved when God
comes in holiness and in righteousness demanding holiness and righteousness in
your life and in my life there isn't a one of us who can drum it up in and of
ourselves we will always fall short there is only one who succeeded his name
is Jesus and when by faith we embrace him he not only takes our sin but he
imparts to us his righteousness and that is why we can stand in confidence for
the coming of the day of the Lord knowing that because of Jesus we are
safe and we have been saved writing to the Thessalonians Paul says God is not
laid up for us wrath he is laid up for us salvation through faith in Jesus but
that only works if we have embraced him by faith and if you're here this morning
I've never done that I want to encourage you to do that because don't let anybody
deceive you short of Christ we're not going to make it too many people in
today's culture have this mindset that says God is some kind of a beneficent
grandfather who will weigh my good deeds over against my bad deeds and my my good
deeds will outweigh my bad deeds and so you know he'll wink at my sin and he
will just forgive me and he will bring me into his presence nothing could be
further from the truth biblically speaking because if it was or were the
whole world could be saved but the whole world is not going to be saved only
those who are joined by faith to Jesus there is salvation in no other name so
cultivate a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ be sure
you understand his character his holiness and his anger towards everything that is
wrong look in your own life how upset you get when you get mistreated or when
you see injustice in the world you're made in the image of God that's only a
tiny reflection of how God views humanity when it continues to raise its
fists over against him that's the reality of the biblical God and when
Jesus weeps over Jerusalem the very center of Israel's religious life you
get a picture there of how seriously he takes the deficiencies that he is
finding among his old covenant people secondly we must watch and pray therefore
keep watch Matthew 25 13 because you do not know the day or the hour loop 21 34
35 and 36 be careful or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation
drunkenness and the anxieties of life and that day will close on you
unexpectedly like a trap for it will come upon all those who live in the face
of the whole earth be always on the watch and pray that you may be able to
escape all that which is about to happen and that you may be able to stand before
the son of man remember what I said when the day of the Lord comes it's too late
to try to get ready we have to be ready ahead of time we get ready ahead of time
not only by embracing Jesus but by living in Jesus by walking in the light
by dealing with our crud by keeping short account with God and short account
with each other so that whatever be tides we know that we can stand
confidently in the presence in the favor of God and then finally just very
quickly we need to live in expectation expectation described by Jesus when he
says in Luke 21 28 when these things begin to take place all the signs of the
times that he talks about when these things begin to take place stand up and
lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing nigh when God
touches your heart and you come alive and you begin to understand righteousness
and truth and the heart of God then the pain of a broken world becomes almost
unbearable and how many times in all of our lives isn't there the cry God do
something do something about the war in Syria do something about the situation
in the Ukraine do something about the famines that rage across the length and
the breadth of so many parts of the world do something about the children
that are sick do something about the poverty that is so epidemic in certain
parts of the world God do something and it's very easy to get discouraged
because life just seems to go from bad to worse but Jesus says there is a
bright lining to those dark clouds because the darker it gets the closer is
the day of redemption we often say the darkest hour it's just before dawn I'm
told it's not really true but it makes for a good statement because it
describes what we're looking for and so as we bring this service to a close and
we move into Holy Week may I suggest that as we prepare for communion and
Good Friday and a glorious celebration of the resurrection and Easter Sunday
morning what a good time for some self-examination when Jesus comes to the
temple of your heart or my heart what does he find there does he find men and
women sold out to Jesus men and women grieving for their sin men and women who
are looking for the day of the Lord not because they like judgment but because
they long for the renewal that only God can bring does he find there are people
who are wanting to work out their salvation in all the practical details of
their lives or does he find their people who are just sort of casual like all the
rest of the world eating and drinking buying and selling marrying and being
given in marriage and totally oblivious to the price that God has paid in order
to win us back and to enable us to stand in the terrible day of the Lord and as
we do that kind of self-examination may we do so in the confidence that because
of Jesus we can have forgiveness because of Jesus we can lead new lives because
of Jesus we can be lights shining in a dark place all we won't do it perfectly
we'll fall short many times but remember that verse earlier from Isaiah how God
finds the light in his people I don't know about you but when God looks at me
I want him to find the light and when he looks at you I want him to be delighted
I don't want him to have to weep over me although I'm sure many times he does I
don't want him to weep over you we want to be together by God's grace our people
so that when he comes to Jerusalem we can say Hosanna blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord God comes to save