Man, you know what? Ben brought the fire last week, didn't he? Oh, so good. Man, Katie and I, we were actually in Dallas last week, and we were visiting upper room.
If you know of upper room and we were meeting with some of their leadership, and it was so encouraging, we were just kind of getting vision for 2021 as the year we always take a retreat, just asking the Lord, Lord, what's on your heart for the next year? And so it was such a fun time to meet with their leadership. If you don't know about upper room music, a lot of the music, some of the music that we sing here at Grove is from upper room. And so you should check it out.
But really encourage, but we missed you guys. And, but man, what we heard and what we watched on YouTube, it just didn't skip a beat at all, which is totally normal. Whenever we're gone, it's like, wow, it was so much better. Dang it.
So tonight, what we're talking about is the end times. The end times, it was very strategic that Ben talked about anxiety last week, right? Where it's like, oh my goodness. End times brings up a lot of emotions, a lot of things up in our hearts, right?
And really, with these family meetings, we've been talking about culture, and what's God doing, and what's happening in culture, and what's his heart. And one of the things that has surfaced and come up specifically in the subculture of Christian culture is, man, if Biden gets in, he's coming close. Or if Trump gets in, man, he's coming soon, right? Or maybe some of us have watched a couple of Netflix docuseries on the Deep State.
Or we got an article sent to us. Or we looked on Facebook and there was an article about the signs of the times. Or maybe it was Aunt Cheryl. Aunt Cheryl, she really, she's been studying this.
And Aunt Cheryl, really, I talked to her at the birthday party, and I am convinced he's coming now. Like, this is the end, right here. It was the coronavirus. The last signs of the times, if you didn't see it, it was in Matthew 35.
And it was the coronavirus hitting America, and it's the time. I knew it. But it's really been coming up recently, and we thought, hey, let's speak into it. And this isn't going to be a long series we could spend all year just talking about in times.
But we do have a passion for the return of Jesus as a church community. And so if you've been here for a while, you'll hear in between moments, we'll say things like, Jesus, we can't wait for you to get back, right? And we'll say things like that. It's because it's part of just who we are as a church.
Does that mean we're an in-times church? Does that mean that Katie and I have half of our basement with canned foods? No. But we do long for him to be back.
And so you can open your Bibles to Matthew 24. Matthew 24, I also want to give a little bit of a precursor context that where I'm at today, and we're all in process, where I'm at today is that I'm pre-miff, if you're an eschatology nerd, you're like, oh, I've really studied this, I have my mind made up. I'm preaching from the perspective of pre-mill post-trib or mid-trib, okay? So some of you guys are like, I don't know what you're talking about.
And some of you are going, well, I'm Amil or I'm post-mill, or I'm like pre-mill, the third degree, plus seven times 25. And that's okay, okay, that's okay that you're that. And that I'm where I'm at, there's enough room and enough space for us to be in the same community to maybe disagree on some of these things. And that's okay.
And that doesn't concern me at all. And we are on this journey. I might be where I'm at today, and then in five years, maybe I'm going to think something different. And so that's why we always seek the scriptures for ourselves, okay?
So don't take my word for it. Everybody say, okay. All right. Matthew 24, are you there?
Say amen. If you're there, Matthew 24. Matthew 24, the disciples of Jesus are asking him questions, and they're just curious. They're going, okay, is this the time?
Jesus, is this the time where you're going to restore Israel? Is this the time where you're going to take the throne? Is this the time where you're going to destroy the oppressor, the Roman Empire? And then Jesus starts talking about the signs of the times, looking at Matthew 24, verse three through, what is that, 14?
Jesus, he just kind of gives a quick, like, hey, this is what you need to look for when you're thinking about when I'm going to restore the kingdom of heaven, and heaven's going to marry earth. And he's saying, this is what's going to happen in the last generation. These are the things that you can look at and know you're in the last generation. So he talks about the signs of the times.
Next thing he talks about, verse 15 through 28, is he's talking about the abomination of desolation. That's what theologians call it, the abomination of desolation, okay? And what that is, is there's going to be a leader at the end of the age that is going to, so in the last times, as we're getting, people call it the apocalypse, right? So we're getting close to the apocalypse is what culture calls it.
But there's going to be a leader that's going to rise. He's going to be a global leader. And right now, in Jerusalem, there's a building called the Dome of the Rock. And it's built on where the temple in the first century when Jesus was alive, it's a mosque that's actually built in the same place that the temple used to be for the nation of Israel.
And there's a prophecy that actually the temple, the Jewish temple is going to get rebuilt where the mosque is. So that's a problem, right? And once it's built, there's actually going to be a leader that is going to be an anti-King Jesus leader, anti-Messiah. And he's going to declare himself as God in the temple.
And that moment is called the abomination of desolation. Do you guys want to say it? Everybody say on three abomination of desolation. One, two, three.
Man, it just rolled off the tongue, right? So the abomination, I can't even say it now, abomination of desolation is going to happen. And then in Daniel, Jesus talks about this, he anchors us back to a prophecy from Daniel that it's going to be three and a half years from that day till his return. So if you're living, if you're not getting raptured out of here and you're living at that time, you're going to know the exact day of the Lord's return after that moment happens in Jerusalem.
And there's going to be a countdown to the day, 435 days more, Lord. I can't wait to see you right on the clouds. Can you imagine on that day of like, oh, 325. I don't know where we're going to be if it's going to be us in a bunker somewhere.
It's like cavemen riding on the wall, like just crossing off dates. I don't know guys. All right. Can you picture it though?
You can just like picture. Oh, what if? What if I was living in that day in that generation, that moment? Oh my goodness.
Jesus, he's talking in Matthew 24 and where he's talking is one of my favorite things in the Bible to think about is he's talking on Mount Olivet. It's a hill. It's not really a mountain. It's more like a hill in Israel.
It's called Mount Olivet. And he's giving this thing. Matthew 24 and 25, it's called the Olivet Discourse. And what it is, is he's talking about the end times in this Olivet Discourse.
Then in Matthew 26, he's actually praying on the same Mount. Garden of Gethsemane is actually on Mount of Olives. And what's cool about this is he's talking about his return in Matthew 24 and 25. And then in Acts 1, he actually ascends into heaven from that same mountain.
And then the angel is after he ascends into heaven. They're like, hey, what are you looking at? Why are you looking up there? The same way that he went up, he's going to come back and in Zechariah 14, there's a prophecy that says that on that same mountain, that's where he's going to land.
When he rides on the clons, he's going to actually land on the Mount of Olives. The same place that he's talking about the end times. The same place that he prayed before he went to the cross. He's actually going to land on that same mountain.
And then he's going to approach the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem. And he's going to take the throne. And there's going to be a triumphal procession again at the end of the age. Whoa.
I love the drama of him speaking about his return from the place that he's going to return to. Isn't that so fun? Man, only the author of all creation could come up with something like that. And so there he is.
He's talking about the science. He's talking about the domination of desolation. He's talking about his return. And where we're going to pick up is in the parable in verse 32.
So turn to or just look at verse 32. That's where we're going to pick up. From the fig tree, Jesus says, learn its lesson. So Jesus wants us to learn a lesson.
What's the lesson that Jesus is wanting to teach us? As soon as the fig tree's branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. In other words, how many of you guys love the fall colors in Minnesota, right? They're beautiful.
We know that there's a season that's changing. Is that right? And so Jesus, he's basically drawing our attention to, hey, know that the season is changing. Verse 33, so also when you see all these things, you know that he is near at the very gates, the Eastern Gate.
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. What is Jesus saying? And you're going to have to bear with me.
I'm not going to as much preach. I don't think I'm going to more so teach because this can get a little complicated, okay? As we talk about the end of the age. So you got to engage with me, okay?
The question that I want to answer today is, should we know that we are living in the last generation? And if we can know, and if we should know, then how do we know that we're living in the last generation? So can you know, should you know, and how do you know that you are living in the last generation before Jesus returns? That's what I want to talk about tonight.
And so we look at Jesus and he's saying, learn this lesson. What is verse 33 says? What is verse 33 says when you see these things? You see that?
He says when you see these things, what does he want you to do? He wants you to see and then he wants you to know. He wants you to see the signs and then he wants you to know that his return is imminent and near, right? And so he's giving context to all of the things that he just talked about.
He's saying, I want you to learn the lesson. I want you to know these things. I actually want you to know the day of the Lord. I want you to know the season.
That's why I'm talking about the season. But then he says verse 36. Oh man, look at verse 36. But concerning that day and hour, no one knows.
Thanks Jesus. Not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. This is the most famous verse in American Christianity on eschatology. Well, no one really knows.
It's like, hey, do you think Jesus is coming back? Well, nobody really knows. I don't know. I mean, Jesus doesn't even know.
How would I know, right? It's like the angels, they got the inside scoop. They don't even know. So who do you think you are that you think you know?
But here's the problem. We don't want to be weird, right? How many of us have heard the story of the group of people that go up on a mountain? It's like he's coming back today, August 3rd, 1985.
He's coming back today. And then they're just staying on the mountain. There's like tragedies that happen. It's like, I don't want to be the weirdo, right?
I don't want to be the end times guy that's like, really, you can't even have a conversation without talking some deep state, like American thing has nothing to do with Israel or Jesus. And it's like, yeah, but Jesus coming back on this day and this way. And we're going, I don't, that doesn't feel like me. It's kind of like evangelism.
I don't want to be the guy that's going, the UN is evil and the Antichrist is coming back because the UN just found a leader. You know what I'm saying? Where it's like, they're picketing on the side of, that's what evangelism is like. You're going to hell.
We're holding up signs. It's like, that doesn't feel like me in evangelism. It doesn't feel like me when I see people on the streets and they're going, the apocalypse is now and repent if you don't, because Jesus is going to come back with judgment and fire and brimstone and all this and it's like, oh man, some of those things are true, but man, that doesn't feel like me. I don't want to be weird.
And then when I look at concerning the day or hour, no one knows, it's kind of like, well, I don't, like, why would I even study it? Why would I even peer into these things if I can't even know? And then I studied the book of Revelation. Oh my gosh, tried to figure that one out.
And so we just get a little bit lethargic, don't we? We just get a little bit indifferent around this topic. And I believe that this, how we've interpreted verse 36 is one of the greatest misconceptions on eschatology that we have in our day. It's a misconception.
We are actually interpreting this passage in the opposite spirit that Jesus gave it. No one will know, but look at verse 37. Verse 37, he's now going to give context to what he just said. He says, for as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Turning your Bibles to Genesis 6. So Jesus is saying, about that day, no one knows.
And it's going to be like in the days of Noah. What are you trying to get at Jesus? Genesis 6, verse 1. Are you there?
Say amen if you're there. Look at this. I think this is so important for us to understand. Verse 1, it says, now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth.
That sounds a lot like our day. I'm going to skip verse 2 because it's going to be, we could be here a long time talking about verse 2. Wow. Verse 3, and the Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his day shall be 120 years.
Now a lot of us think we read that and go, okay, he's going to send the flood and then life expectancy is not going to be more than 120 years. But even after the flood, there's people that have lived longer than 120 years. What's actually happening is God is giving Noah the timetable of when the flood is coming. He's actually telling Noah 120 years before the flood, I'm sending the flood.
You have 120 years to build the ark. It says in 2 Peter that Noah was a herald of righteousness, a messenger of righteousness. That generation of Noah's generation, they had 120 years to repent, 120 years with Noah standing as a messenger of righteousness, both inward and indeed articulating God's heart, and they still don't repent and only eight listen to him. Noah knew 120 years and it took a long time to build that ark.
And some of you guys are going, well, how the heck did he live 120 years? When he got this, he was 480. And there's people, have you ever read the genealogy and raised your hand, if you read the genealogy and you're like 1,100? How?
What? Right? The earth, the earth actually was a different climate and atmosphere before the flood. And the flood completely changed the climate of the whole globe.
It's like people lived longer, there was more vegetation, there was more animals like the dinosaurs. Science actually confirms scripture, is not a post- If you start peering into this, it's like, oh, it all makes sense. Of course there's a T-Rex. Of course they're living a thousand years because the whole globe actually was supporting life in a completely different way than what we're seeing right now today.
I know that some of you guys are going, I don't know what you're talking about. And that's okay. I'm just wetting your appetite a little bit, okay? But Noah, he's told 120 years, the general time of when the flood is gonna happen.
And he didn't just know the general time. He actually knew the exact day. Listen, Jesus is saying, you can't know the day or the hour. But then he says, like in the days of Noah, I want you to be aware and watch.
Look at verse, Genesis 7 verse 4. Look at that verse. For after seven more days, this is God talking to Noah. He says, in seven days, I'm gonna send the flood.
Are you catching that? No one knew the exact day of the flood. So Jesus is giving context to no one knows the day or the hour, but what he doesn't say. Listen, he doesn't say that we won't know the day or the hour.
He said, right now, no one knows the day or the hour, but he doesn't say, we won't know the day or the hour, right? Because Jesus knows the abomination of desolation is gonna happen. It's three and a half years before his return. So he is gonna know the day.
Jesus knows that the three and a half years before his return, the abomination of desolation is gonna happen. And so we are gonna know the exact day. But he's saying, in that moment, we don't know the day or the hour. Does that make sense?
Okay. Let's continue reading in Matthew 24. Turn back to Matthew 24. We're gonna pick up in verse 40.
Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one left.
Sometimes we think that that's the rapture. It's not the rapture. It's relating it to the flood. There's actually destruction happening on one of these people.
Okay. Verse 42, what does he say? Therefore, this is what I want you to do. Therefore, stay awake.
Some of you already sleeping on me in here. Put you to sleep. Therefore, stay awake and watch. For you do not know what day your Lord is coming, but know this.
Oh my goodness. Guys, verse 43, look down at verse 43. But know this that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not let his house be broken into. Therefore, you must also be ready for the son of man is coming to an hour you do not expect.
Okay. Everybody look at me. If you knew that tonight a thief was going to come in to your house and break into your house, would you stay awake and wait and watch? Would you keep watch if you knew there's a thief coming tonight to my address, to my apartment, to my dorm room, there's someone that's going to break into my house.
Would you stay awake? Everybody says yes. Jesus is saying, I want you to stay awake and watch. I want you to be aware of the day that you're living in and I want you to see and then I want you to know.
I want you to see the signs and I want you to know the hour that you're living in was the accusation. What was the accusation that the religious leaders got from Jesus that they missed their time of visitation, right? They missed it. They misunderstood the time that they were living in.
So can we know the day or the hour? Yes, we can. Should we know? Yes, Jesus is spending a lot of time talking about the signs of his return.
Can you imagine him spending some of the last hours of his life? Talking about all of the signs that are revolving around the last generation and them, him to just say, but none of this matters. I know I'm wasting a lot of my breath and all these things are going to happen, but it doesn't really matter. Just go on and be a good Christian.
Just go on and love people. No, he's saying, I want you to know. He's saying, I want you to stay awake. I want you to watch, therefore watch and be aware and see and then know that you might be living in the last generation.
In Matthew 26, just a chapter two ahead, Jesus is praying. It's like the John 17 moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? And he starts talking to his disciples and he says, hey, stay up and watch with me. You guys remember that?
You remember that passage where he's saying, watch, stay awake. That is Jesus moment of transition. He's transitioning. We talked about this a couple weeks ago.
Do you guys remember that message that I shared a couple weeks ago on transition? Jesus is in a moment of transition. He's transitioning all of history in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's actually taking what Adam and Eve did in the Garden where they chose their own way and he's in the Garden in the midst of transition.
And he chooses to say, not my will, unlike Adam and Eve, but he says, but your will be done. In other words, he submits and says, Father, your, my Lord, your, my Master, I'm going to follow your way. I'm going to do it your way rather than my way, right? And he's in the Garden and he says, watch and wait with me in the moment of transition as all of humanity is in the birth canal in transition.
Somebody's calling 911. There's a time of urgency. Jesus is wanting us to be, he's wanting us to be his friends in the last generation, like his disciples weren't in the Garden. He's wanting us to actually be his friends to know what he's saying in the last generation.
He's wanting us to actually tune in, stay awake and watch. God's calling us in the midst of whatever generation, I mean, listen, pause and think about it, if it's in my generation. If he's coming back while I'm alive, it says, it says that, that there's going to be a great falling away. It says the majority of the body of Christ is going to actually fall away from him in the last generation.
Oh, what does that do in my heart to know some of those elements, some of those things? There's a sobriety that needs to rest on us if it's me, if it's my generation, if it's in the next 120 years and my kids are going to see the day of the Lord in their 50s or their 60s. What does that do for me when I'm singing lullabies to them and tucking them in at night? I'm going to start anchoring them on the hope that is to come the day of the Lord.
And I'm going to start singing about Jesus writing on the clouds. What if they were fascinated and they had their hope anchored on his day rather than their circumstances getting better? What if I train my kids not to be spoiled Americans but expecting difficulty? Oh, get ready.
The birth pains are going to get closer. Once the birth pains start, they don't stop. Ladies that have given birth to children know that. Once the birth pains start happening, they just keep on getting closer and it gets more intense.
And yet as Americans, we go, oh, after 2020, it's all going to go back to normal. I don't know. I hope so. And yet, it's the American way.
It's going to get easier. It's going to get more convenient, right? And the Lord is saying in the midst of that generation, maybe it's your great-grandchildren. Maybe it's your grandchildren that are going to see the day of the Lord.
What if it was your grandchildren that you hold when you're 80 years old? What would it be like to hold my baby, my grandbaby in a rocking chair and know that they're going to see the day of the Lord? What moves in my heart? See, I don't want to just be lethargic.
I want to stay awake. I want to be found watching. I want to be found waiting like the disciples weren't in the moment of the greatest transition of human history. God's calling us to know, to see, he wants us to know.
The whole passage is talking about, I want you to know if you're in the last generation. Don't be swept away and be surprised. Don't be surprised by the thief. Jesus was never meant to be a thief to his children in the middle of the night.
It was never meant to be a surprise. Oh my gosh, I didn't know you were coming back. No, he's saying, I want you to know. Let's all stand.
Next couple weeks, we're going to be talking about this a little bit more. We're going to talk about the signs of the times and what we're seeing right now. But I really feel a sobriety around. I want to be found watching.
I want to be your friend. It says in Amos and in John 15, God calls us his friends and he says, I'm not going to do anything without revealing things to my friends. And I believe that he's prophetically wanting to actually give us his heart, whether it's us, whether it's our children, whether it's our grandchild, maybe it's our great-grandchildren. Either way, he's wanting us to give, he's wanting to give us a hunger for his return, a fresh fascination as his friends to know his heart.
Let's pray. Lord, we want to be your friends. We want to be those that are your disciples, that as the earth transitions into a new heavens and a new earth, as the earth transitions into having a new leader, all of these things, some of us, most of us, all of us feel like these things are just a mystery. Maybe tonight you're going, all of this is over my head.
Yeah, it's over all of our heads. Kind of feels like that. And that's okay. But I want it to stoke, Lord, in me, a fascination for you coming back.
Lord, I want to anchor my hope on that day. Lord, make me a friend of God that is getting downloads of you, the secrets of your heart. Lord, help me as your son, as your daughter, to be awake watching, seeing what's happening in the earth. Lord, I don't want just the opinions of the article and the docuseries on Netflix.
Lord, I want the opinion of the Spirit of God. So Lord, I just lean into you and I say that you are going to help us. Help us stay awake, not just not, we're not pulling all nighters, but we really are going after is to have our hearts awake as your friends. In Jesus name, we love you.
Amen.