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Well, please turn with me in 
your Bibles to Matthew chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23. I'll begin 
reading in verse 13. Hear now the word of the living and 
true God. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for 
you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither 
go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go 
in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' 
houses and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will 
receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, 
and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell 
as yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides, who 
say, whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever swears 
by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it. Fools 
and blind, for which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies 
the gold? And whoever swears by the altar, 
it is nothing. But whoever swears by the gift 
that is on it, he is obliged to perform it, fools and blind. For which is greater, the gift 
or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore, he who swears 
by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears 
by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And 
he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him 
who sits on it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and 
anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the 
law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done 
without leaving the others undone. Blind guides who strain out a 
gnat and swallow a camel. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of 
the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and 
self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse 
the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may 
be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed 
tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full 
of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear 
righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and 
lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and 
adorn the monuments of the righteous and say, if we had lived in the 
days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with 
them in the blood of the prophets. Therefore, you are witnesses 
against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the 
prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of 
your father's guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers, how 
can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I 
send you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you 
will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your 
synagogues and persecute from city to city. But on you may 
come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood 
of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, 
whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, 
I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones 
those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your 
children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but 
you were not willing. See, your house is left to you 
desolate. For I say to you, you shall see 
me no more till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of 
the Lord. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
we thank you for the Holy Scriptures, and we acknowledge that you are 
the Lord God Most High, Father, Son, and Spirit, and we praise 
you, and we worship you, and we want to glorify and honor 
you. We ask that you would fill us 
with the Holy Spirit as we consider the Scriptures now. We know, 
God, that its origin is not with men, but it's of God. We know 
that you used men to pen the very words of God Himself, and 
may we receive these things as such. We ask that the Spirit 
would guide us and lead us and direct us, that He would give 
us understanding. And as well, God, we pray that 
You would cleanse us from all of our sin. We know that sin 
does darken our understanding. It darkens our hearts, our minds. 
So we pray that You would cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, that You would wash us and purify us and give us ears 
to hear and hearts to receive Your Word. And for any and all 
who have come here this morning that are outside of Christ, we 
pray that today would be the day of salvation. We pray the 
Spirit of God would be at work in hearts, convicting men and 
women and boys and girls of their own sinfulness and showing them 
a Savior that is able to save to the uttermost all who draws 
an eye to God through Him. We ask these things for Your 
glory's sake and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, as we come to these last 
few verses in chapter 23, specifically verses 37 to 39, we have been 
considering the prophet Christ. Remember, in the triumphal entry, 
when he comes into Jerusalem in Matthew 21, The Judeans ask, 
who is he? And the Galileans say, he is 
the prophet. And then we see that then he 
goes into the temple on the Tuesday of the Passion Week, and the 
religious leaders challenge him. They ask him, by what authority 
are you doing these things? And that sets off a continued 
series of debates with these leaders. Jesus condemns them 
via parable, and then he condemns them through direct confrontation, 
answering their questions. and then posing one himself concerning 
the identity of Christ, or of the Messiah. And then that brings 
us to chapter 23. Jesus warns His disciples, and 
He warns the multitudes in verses 1 to 12, against these religious 
leaders. And then he directs his attention 
to them specifically in verses 13 to 33. He gives a series of 
woes. He, like prophets before him, 
pronounces woe. That's the opposite of blessing. 
He pronounces woes upon these religious leaders. and he describes 
them as hypocrites, he describes them as blind guides, he describes 
them as a brood of vipers, and he calls them to account for 
their sin, or calls them to repent, rather, for their sin. And then 
he pronounces judgment, or the impending judgment of Jerusalem 
specifically in verses 34 to 36. He says, upon you all of 
this will come, because you have shed the blood of the prophets 
from Abel to Zechariah. And then he ends with this lament, 
this expression of sorrow over the city that will be destroyed. And in this he is, again, very 
similar to the prophets of the Old Testament. So I want to look 
at verses 37 to 39 under two considerations this morning. 
First, the lament over Jerusalem in verse 37, and then the certainty 
of the judgment to come in verses 38 and 39. But note first in 
verse 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets 
and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to 
gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under 
her wings, but you are not willing. I've really sought, I've really 
tried, I've really labored to show that Jesus is doing nothing 
new in this section in Matthew's Gospel. He finds himself in line 
with the prophets of the Old Testament. Those prophets who 
would come, they would engage in a covenant lawsuit, sue the 
nation of Israel essentially on behalf of God, call them to 
repent, and promise that if they did not repent, they would reap 
judgment. that it would come upon them. 
We see it with Jeremiah, we see it with Ezekiel, and we see it 
throughout. All of the old covenant prophets 
that came before Israel to call them to repentance. Well, I want 
to liken, or indicate, or show Jesus' affinity with the prophet 
Jeremiah here. You can turn to Jeremiah chapter 
4. It's interesting, in Matthew chapter 16, when Jesus says, 
who do men say that I the Son of Man am? Some say He was Jeremiah 
the prophet. Well, in His lamentation here, 
in His expression of sorrow over the city of Jerusalem, Jesus 
sounds like Jeremiah. Notice in Jeremiah 4 verse 19, 
O my soul, my soul, I am pained in my very heart. My heart makes 
a noise in me. I cannot hold my peace because 
you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm 
of war. Destruction upon destruction 
is cried, for the whole land is plundered. Suddenly my tents 
are plundered and my curtains in a moment. How long will I 
see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? For My 
people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly 
children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but 
to do good they have no knowledge." It's important for us to remember, 
Jeremiah prophesied right before the fall of Jerusalem to the 
Babylonians in the 6th century BC. Notice in Jeremiah 7, verses 
28 and 29. Just to show us that Jesus is 
like the prophets before. 728, this is the first temple 
sermon. He says, Notice in Jeremiah 8 verse 21, 
For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt, I am 
mourning. Astonishment has taken hold of 
me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? 
Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter 
of my people? And then in Jeremiah 9, 1, Oh, 
that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, 
that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter 
of my people. Oh, that I had in the wilderness 
a lodging place for travelers, that I might leave my people 
and go from them, for they are all adulterers and assembly of 
treacherous men. You see, what Christ is doing 
is lamenting over the city upon which He has just pronounced 
the coming judgment of God. They do not repent. If they do 
not recant, if they continue to reject the Messiah, then God 
Most High will bring vengeance down upon them. And Jesus is 
struck with compassion over the city in this particular instance. He laments, like Jeremiah, before 
Him. You see this as well in the prophet 
Amos in Amos 5.1. Now, going back to Matthew 23, 
he repeats it twice. He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem. If you were here on Wednesday 
night, you heard a similar lament from Father David. In 2 Samuel, specifically in 
chapter 18, after Absalom is dead and David finds out, he 
says, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, In 2 Samuel 1, 
when he is lamenting over the death of Saul and his sons, thrice 
he says, how the mighty have fallen. This repetition again 
highlights the sorrow, the lamentation that fills the heart of the one 
lamenting. Chrysostom says, what meaneth 
the repetition, Jerusalem, Jerusalem? This is the manner of one pitying 
her, and bemoaning her, and greatly loving her. So Jesus' disposition 
here in Matthew 23, 37 indicates that when He pronounces judgment, 
when He pronounces this condemnation, He doesn't do it in a sadistic 
manner. He doesn't say, God's going to 
get you now for all that you have done. He says, God's going 
to get you now for all that you have done. But it pains Him. 
There is sorrow. There is grief. There is lamentation 
in the heart of the Savior. It's similar to what Yahweh, 
through Ezekiel, says in Ezekiel 18.32. He tells the nation of 
Israel to turn. And He says, for I have no pleasure 
in the death of one who dies, says the Lord God. Therefore, 
turn and live. So what Christ is demonstrating 
in verses 37-39 is the sorrow, the grief, the compassion, the 
sympathy of a prophet consistent with what we find in at least 
Jeremiah, but several of the other Old Testament prophets. This demonstrates the heart of 
the prophet, that condemnation is pronounced, but it is tinged 
with the mercy of the Lord. Davies and Allison suggest, when 
the threats give way to the image of Jesus as a mother hen, when 
the threats give way. This is what we've just read. 
Woe to you, woe to you, woe to you, woe to you. Hypocrites, 
blind guides, fools, brood of vipers, all these things. They 
say, when the threats give way to the image of Jesus as a mother 
hen lamenting her loss, the reader is reminded of the compassionate 
Son of 11, 28 to 30. We need to understand that. The one pronouncing woes and 
condemnation is the same one who says, come to me, all who 
are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. They go 
on to say, in this way the prophetic judgments are mingled with affection, 
and Jesus becomes, like Jeremiah, a reluctant prophet. He goes 
about His task, He announces the reality, He calls them to 
repentance, and He promises the judgment, but He doesn't do it 
as a sadist. He does it with this lamentation. He does it with this sorrow. 
Now note the reason given for the lamentation. He says, O Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those 
who are sent to her. You see, the problem is theirs. 
It's an amazing thing to me. Oftentimes, the wrong people 
get blamed in certain transactions. You know, sometimes a parent 
will give direction to their child, and the child does something 
wrong, and then he tries to blame it on the parent. Well, if you 
hadn't had me, then I wouldn't have done this. You're making 
this my fault? It wasn't poor, pathetic, innocent 
Jerusalem that was reaping the vengeance and fury of a capricious 
God. These persons rejected the prophets 
whom God sent to them. These persons stoned and murdered 
the likes of Jeremiah and Isaiah. You've heard me say it before 
in Hebrews 11, where it speaks of one who had been sawn in two. 
History tells us that that was Isaiah the prophet. That anybody 
would ever saw Isaiah the prophet in two speaks to the wretchedness 
and the godlessness that is in their hearts. You see, Jesus 
pronounces judgment upon the city, and specifically verse 
38, her temple, because they had rejected the mouthpieces 
of God. That's what's stated. The one 
who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. We 
have seen that in our context. We have seen it in the parallel. 
Luke 13, 33, Jesus says, it cannot be that a prophet should perish 
outside of Jerusalem. They murdered and stoned the 
prophets, and now they're rejecting the greatest prophet of all, 
this Lord Jesus Christ, who is speaking authoritatively to them. 
We've seen it in our context. Notice in Matthew 21, specifically 
verses 34 to 36, the parable of the vineyard. The Lord Christ 
highlighting Yahweh's dealings with Israel in the Old Covenant. 
He says in verse 34, Now when vintage time drew near, He sent 
His servants to the vinedressers that they might receive its fruit. 
And the vinedressers took His servants, beat one, killed one, 
and stoned another. Again, He sent other servants, 
more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Notice in 23, at the end of the 
woes, 23 specifically, verses 29 to 33. They had said that they had affinity 
with the prophets. They said that if we lived in 
the time of the prophets, we wouldn't have murdered them like 
our fathers. Jesus concludes, because you want to murder me, 
you demonstrate, or you bear witness against yourselves, that 
you are the sons of those murderers. That's what he says specifically. Verse 31, therefore you are witnesses 
against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered 
the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your 
father's guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers, how 
can you escape the condemnation of hell? Notice in verse 35 that 
on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from 
the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of 
Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 
You see what Christ is saying? The blood guiltiness is upon 
you. The measure of God's wrath has 
been filled. Paul says the same thing in 1 
Thessalonians 2, 14-16. Applicable to the very same city 
and people. And Christ charges them as being 
guilty of all the blood from Abel to Zechariah. Remember, 
that's the convention that describes for us the entirety of the Hebrew 
Bible. Genesis is first in that canon. And 2 Chronicles is last in the 
order in their canon. Same books, the same exact written 
material, the Protestant canon of the Old Testament and the 
Hebrew, but the order is different. And the order in the Hebrew canon 
is Genesis to 2 Chronicles. So Jesus charges them, A to Z, 
Abel to Zechariah, but even more beyond that, from Genesis to 
2 Chronicles, this is required at your hand. The Lord Christ 
condemns them, joins the prophets before, and highlights the reality 
that they are indeed guilty, along with their fathers, and 
now the wrath of God is coming upon them. It's not only past 
prophets, but it will be future prophets, or those whom Jesus 
sends. Notice in verse 34, Therefore, 
indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of 
them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge 
in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. That's precisely 
what happens in the book of Acts. Acts 5, they're beaten. They 
go out, they depart from that place rejoicing that they were 
counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus Christ. 
We get to Acts 7, what do we find? They stone Stephen to death. Why? Because he's a believer 
in Jesus Christ. So you see, the reason for the 
judgment of God upon this particular people is because they had received 
the blessings of God. They had received the very Word 
of God, and they rejected it, they resisted it, and they killed 
the very messengers themselves. I think there's a lesson here. 
Before we proceed, how treat we the Word of God? Could the 
Lord Most High say, I sent you ministers. I sent you faithful 
men. I sent you fathers and mothers, 
if you're a child, that taught you accurately the truth of God. 
But instead of receiving it, instead of receiving the Lord 
Christ Almighty, instead of receiving that blessed Word, you reject 
it. You resist it. You plug your 
ears to it. You gnash your teeth at it. And 
you want nothing to do with it. We'll witness here that when 
a nation, when a people in covenant with God reject the very God 
of that covenant, God brings wrath to bear upon them. Now, 
I'm not suggesting that we're in the same sort of covenant 
that old covenant Israel was in with reference to this situation. But there is that corollary. 
What do you think of the Word of God? Are you convinced with 
Jesus that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every 
word that proceeds from the mouth of God? You see, if that's your 
heartbeat, you'll read the Bible. You'll be in church. You'll listen 
to sermons. You won't doze off. You won't 
be late. You won't be inattentive. You 
won't be thinking about tomorrow. You'll be thinking about the 
truth of God's Word. You see, you'll never be able 
to compel or to convince anyone that you're a lover of Scripture 
when you're a stranger to Scripture. And in this instance, Jesus laments 
because they were the city that killed the prophets and stoned 
those who were sent to her. Now note, His desire expressed, 
still in verse 37, under the larger concern, the lament over 
Jerusalem. the desire expressed by Christ. He says, how often I wanted to 
gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under 
her wings, but you were not willing. Now, I believe the synoptics 
presuppose what John proves or demonstrates. Jesus made more 
than one visit to Jerusalem. The synoptics, Matthew, Mark, 
and Luke, only record the last visit by Christ to the city of 
Jerusalem. John, however, tells us that 
Jesus made several visits. And that's the language employed 
here. So Matthew, Mark, and Luke do 
not debate that. They do not dispute that. They 
just focus on the Galilean ministry and then trace down in the final 
days of Christ when He comes to Jerusalem to enter into His 
Passion. But when he says, how often, 
he's speaking to Jerusalem. This shows us that he has some 
knowledge of them, and he says, how often I wanted to do this. And note specifically the target 
of his affection. He says, how often I wanted to 
gather your children together. Who's he addressing specifically? 
Yes, the city of Jerusalem to be sure, but the religious leaders. 
Those ones whose ears are still ringing with the words, hypocrite, 
brood of vipers, blind guides, fools. Those ones whose ears 
are ringing with that. Jesus says to these men, how 
often I wanted to gather your children. How often I wanted 
them to receive Messiah. How often did I wanted them to 
be receptive to my overtures of grace, to my messianic ministry, 
to identify me properly. He is speaking specifically of 
those children of these religious leaders. These men had indeed 
barred up the kingdom for themselves, but they prohibited others from 
going in likewise. and the specific ministry that's 
identified here. Jesus is speaking more, I think, 
in terms of externalism. I don't think when He says, I 
wanted to gather all your children, I don't think we can apply it 
to individual salvation of every single human being in Jerusalem. 
There's an external ministry involved in the messianic rule 
of Christ. He comes to His own, and His 
own receive Him not. He is the Messiah long before 
promised, and He comes and calls them to believe in Him, to repent, 
and to enter the kingdom of heaven. But they reject Him. They resist 
Him. The leaders do so, and they pass 
that on to their children. The rank and file in Jerusalem. Gil says, Christ here speaks 
as a man. When He says that He speaks as 
a man, He is not distinguishing that this is an angelic speaking. 
He's saying He's speaking according to His humanity. Remember that 
Christ is one glorious person in two natures. It's called the 
hypostatic union. The human and the divine. Christ 
never ceased being deity when He took on our nature with all 
the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, excepting 
sin. Christ is a unique person, one 
person, two natures, and here Gil says, He speaks as a man. Or we might say, He speaks according 
to His humanity. And the minister of the circumcision, 
and expresses a human affection for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 
and a human wish and will for their temporal good. Now today 
when we conclude our sermon, we're going to deal with this 
verse with reference to some Arminians. Arminians think that 
this celebrates free will, and I hope to turn the gun on them 
to use a convention employed by C.H. Spurgeon. But for now, 
suffice it to say that Christ is speaking here according to 
His humanity. A human affection, a human wish, 
a human desire, that instead of rejecting Him, instead of 
forsaking Him, instead of resisting Him, the city would have welcomed 
Him. The people would have rejoiced 
in Him. The people would have celebrated that God Most High 
has sent His Son. Note the imagery employed by 
Christ. This is beautiful language. This 
is glorious, what he says. How often I wanted to gather 
your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her 
wings. Isn't that beautiful? You get 
that image of the mother hen protecting its brood. This brood 
of vipers, contra this one who wanted to protect this brood 
from that brood of vipers. The language is similar to that 
employed by Yahweh. Deuteronomy 32.11, As an eagle 
stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its 
wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings. Psalm 17.8, 
Keep me as the apple of your eye, Hide me under the shadow 
of your wings." Again, Psalm 36.7, 57.1, 61.4, 63.7, 91.4. 
It's in the prophet Isaiah as well. Chamberlain says it's a 
simile that recalls Yahweh's provision of shelter and security 
for His people in Old Testament times. You see, when Yahweh covered 
Israel under the shadow of His wings in Old Covenant religion, 
it didn't mean that all of them were converted. It didn't mean 
that all of them were saved. It meant that Yahweh was providing 
this security. He was providing this protection. He was providing this benefit 
and blessing, and this is what the Lord Christ says here. How 
often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers 
her chicks under her wings. Now notice, their refusal is 
highlighted, but you were not willing. You were not willing. You didn't want Messiah. You 
didn't want Christ. You joined the conspiracy of 
Psalm 2. Why did the nations rage and 
the people plot of vain things? Why do they take their stand 
together? Why do they raise their fist against Yahweh and against 
His Christ? How is it that the people associated 
with King David of Israel, who penned that very psalm highlighting 
the mutiny and the rage of conspirators outside of Israel, how is it 
that Israel has come to that place where they reject God and 
His anointed? You are not willing, he says. 
You are not willing. The religious leaders did not 
receive the Messiah, so they persuaded the children not to. 
And children, again, means the rank and file of Israel's population, 
specifically Jerusalem. Matthew 23, 13, Woe to you, scribes 
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven 
against men. You neither go in yourselves, 
nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. In other words, 
as they were charging that Jesus prophesied or cast out demons, 
rather, by Beelzebub, what are they doing to the people that 
hear them? I mean, slander has quite a rhetorical power, doesn't 
it? If I say to you, have you stopped 
beating your wife yet in the presence of a whole bunch of 
people? That puts you in a horrifically awkward position, doesn't it? 
If you say yes, then that means you've been beating her. If you 
say no, that means you're continuing to beat her. There is rhetorical 
power in the words that are employed. And so when Jesus is with the 
multitudes, and the Pharisees and the scribes, the religious 
leaders of that age, say, this man does what he does by Beelzebub. Don't you think that has an effect 
upon the people? I mean, this was, after all, 
just Jesus from Nazareth. He was the son of a carpenter. 
He was, you know, no rabbinically trained seminary student. He 
was rank and file himself. You see what Christ is saying. 
You are not willing. Because of your unwillingness, 
you block the path to others in the community as well. Now 
the attempt to use this text as a proof text concerning free 
will is woefully misguided, and as I said, we'll visit it at 
the end of the message this morning. But simply to highlight that 
someone was not willing is no detriment to the reformed faith. 
It's one of the basic articles of the reformed faith. Isn't 
that consistent with what we claim? You're not willing. You're 
dead in your trespasses and sins. Your heart is deceitful above 
all things, and it's desperately wicked. And as a result of that, 
your will is bound. You are never willing to come 
to Jesus. That not only doesn't disprove 
what's called Calvinism, it upholds it. Just like John 5, 41, Jesus 
says, you are not willing to come to me that you might have 
eternal life. That's the sermon wherein Spurgeon says, this is 
the great gun of the Arminian, but we're going to spike that 
gun today, we're going to turn it on them, and we're going to 
show that it does not attack, but rather vindicates the doctrines 
of sovereign greats. It highlights total depravity 
and total inability. That's specifically what we teach. So there's no problem with reference 
to this passage. Now note, secondly, in terms 
of our broad consideration, verses 38 and 39. Verse 38 speaks of a desolated 
house. Jesus says, see your house is 
left to you desolate. Now I believe that this speaks 
to the temple. that Jesus is standing in the 
temple complex, and that Jesus is going to depart from the temple, 
and that the Old Testament, a lot of places, recognizes that house 
means temple, I conclude or adduce that Christ is speaking specifically 
to the temple. See, your house is left to you 
desolate. France says, Jerusalem's failure 
to respond is to have drastic consequences. Your house, especially 
when spoken in the temple courtyard, naturally refers to the temple 
building, which would be visible from there. And more explicitly, 
the more explicit prediction of 24-1 confirms this reference. Christ is at the temple, Christ 
departs from the temple, Christ prophesies against the temple. So verse 38 is a specific reference 
to the temple, to their house. And note the language employed 
by the Savior. This is of theological significance, 
especially in light of 21. Go back for just a moment to 
21, specifically at verse 13. 21. 13. Jesus cleanses the temple. Verse 
12. 21. Then Jesus went into the 
temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in 
the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers 
and the seats of those who sold dust. If I were to ask you, where 
is Jesus? In verse 12, I suspect you'd 
say he's in the temple, because that's what it says. He went 
into the temple, he drove out all those who bought and sold 
in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers 
and the seats of those who sold doves. And he said to them, verse 
13, it is written, my house, my temple, my house shall be 
called a house of prayer. But you have made it a den of 
thieves. Intriguing that Jesus calls it there, my house, isn't 
it? I mean, Jesus of Nazareth says 
that the temple belongs to Him? Well, now note what He says in 
23.38. See, your house is left to you desolate. Do not miss 
the significance, especially in light of 24.1, when He departs 
from the house. This is one of the indications 
or one of the illustrations of its desolation. The glory of 
God is withdrawn from it. It was my house, now it's your 
house. There's something similar in 
Deuteronomy 9. When Moses is rehearsing with Israel about 
their failings in the wilderness, Moses recounts how the Lord God 
said, your people whom you led out of Egypt. God says that to 
Moses. You do this in your home too. 
You husbands or you wives, when your son or daughter gets out 
of whack, you say, can you please deal with your son or daughter? 
Can you please deal with your offspring? Hopefully you don't 
get that technical with it. Can you please deal with your 
child that is incorrigible? There's a theology there, Deuteronomy 
9, rehearsing the failings of Israel. God says to Moses, your 
people whom you brought out of Egypt. Now that's rhetorical, 
that's hortatory, that's exhortation. It's not a statement of fact. He always says, I am the Lord 
your God who brought you out of the house of Egypt. But to 
show his displeasure with them, he says, they're your people, 
Moses, just like we do when we say, your son or your daughter. It's to evidence our displeasure 
that that one would ever do anything horrible, and we must link it 
with our spouse, because it couldn't come from me. That's an illustration, 
but that's what Jesus says. Your house is left to you desolate. It's no longer the house of God. 
It's no longer the theological center of the universe. There's 
a shift, a redemptive historical shift. What the temple signified, 
what it pointed forward to, is here. And they've rejected Him. They've resisted Him. They're 
going to crucify Him. Christ says, see, your house 
is left to you desolate. The language itself, to leave, 
to abandon, to be left, means, and then it says desolate, which 
means uninhabited or desolate. Turn back to the prophet Jeremiah, 
where we see this language again, Jeremiah chapter 12. Jeremiah 12, 7, I have forsaken 
my house, I have left my heritage, I have given the dearly beloved 
of my soul into the hand of her enemies. You see the similarities 
in the language even that's employed. Christ is doing nothing new. 
He's suing according to the covenantal curses of Deuteronomy 28. He 
is telling them that the blood guiltiness is upon them. They 
have filled up the measure of God's wrath and He is going to 
pour it out. It would be in fact the days 
of vengeance prophesied by Isaiah in 61. And Christ is employing 
language that has already been employed. such that we aren't 
supposed to consider. Wow, is he talking about Hitler? 
Is he talking about Pol Pot? Is he talking about Obama? Is 
he talking about Kissinger? He's talking about first century 
Jerusalem and her temple, that it become theirs because of their 
apostasy, and Christ says it's going to be left to you desolate. 
It will be in ruins. Notice 26.6 in the prophet Jeremiah. 26.6 Verse 4, And you shall say to 
them, Thus says Yahweh, if you will not listen to Me, to walk 
in My law which I have set before you, to heed the words of My 
servants the prophets whom I sent to you, both rising up early 
and sending them, but you have not heeded, then I will make 
this house, the temple, like Shiloh, and will make this city 
a curse to all the nations of the earth. 1 Kings 9 1 Kings 9, which takes on some 
significance when we consider 1 Kings 8, when the temple is 
dedicated under Solomon. Remember, David, as a man of 
war, couldn't build the temple. Even though he wanted to, he 
couldn't do it. So God brings Solomon, this man 
of peace, and uses him to build the temple. Note 1 Kings 9, specifically 
verses 6-9. He says, But if you or your sons 
at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments 
and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve 
other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from 
the land which I have given them, and this house which I have consecrated 
for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb 
and a byword among all peoples. And as for this house which is 
exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and 
will hiss and will say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land 
and to this house? Then they will answer, because 
they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out 
of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped 
them, and served them. Therefore, the Lord has brought 
all this calamity on them." Similar language employed concerning 
the house, which did occur. Solomon's temple was destroyed 
in that raid by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. But the 
temple was rebuilt. And that's the temple that's 
standing, and Christ is dealing with the same sort of incorrigible 
sinners. They haven't learned the lesson 
from the northern tribes. They didn't learn the lesson 
from the southern tribes. This post-exilic group called 
Judah has continued to rebel against God, has continued to 
reject the prophets, and is now rejecting the prophesied Deuteronomy 
18, 15, that special one of God, sent to redeem His people. They 
reject Him, they resist Him, and they will crucify Him. So 
the same judgment is promised to them. The language of desolate 
is also employed. Revelation chapter 17 and 18, 
when the great whore, Babylon, falls. Brethren, I argue, and 
I would argue if we had more time, that that Babylon in Revelation 
is Jerusalem. There is a juxtaposition in the 
book of Revelation between an old Jerusalem and a new Jerusalem. And what John is doing is basically 
expanding on Matthew 24. But that's for a whole other 
day. But the language is used there. Revelation 17, 16, 18, 
17, and 18, 19. Now, when he says, 
see your house is left to you desolate, this will be marked 
in two specifics. It will be marked by the departure 
of Jesus 24-1. Notice, 24-1. Then Jesus went 
out and departed from the temple. That's significant theologically. 
Keep that in your mind for just a moment because I want to explore 
another Old Testament connection. But the two-fold desolation involved 
in verse 38 is the departure of Jesus from the house and the 
destruction of the house in A.D. 70. France, again, makes this 
comment. There is a special poignancy 
in the juxtaposition of house. What's a house mean? It's a place 
to be inhabited, right? It's a place to be lived in. 
That's why you like your house, because you get to live in it. 
See juxtaposition? House and desolate. How do we 
define desolate? Uninhabited. Your house is becoming 
uninhabited. Becoming uninhabited by the glory 
of God, but as well it would be uninhabited when it's destroyed. 
He says, there is a special poignancy in the juxtaposition of house, 
a place meant to be lived in, and eromos, which is the Greek 
word uninhabited, which describes not so much its physical dissolution 
as its being deserted. Its consequent destruction will 
merely complete the process. You see, the big event Covenantally 
speaking, was not AD 70. That was an external visible 
representation, but the big event was the crucifixion. This is 
how I think Hebrews 8.13 is to be read as well in terms of Old 
Covenant, New Covenant. Again, we don't have the time, 
but just to show you something similar in the Old Testament, 
turn to Ezekiel 8. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 8. I 
think you'll find this fascinating in terms of the movement by which 
the glory of Yahweh departs from the temple. If you remember in our readings 
in Ezekiel, because we are presently there in our evening services, 
I highlighted the fact that chapters 8 to 11 record the departure 
of God's glory. You see the context of Ezekiel? He's prophesying right before 
the destruction of Israel, or the destruction of Jerusalem, 
under Babylon. Into it. In fact, he's prophesying 
to the exiles. So the departure of God's glory 
comes, and then Nebi and the boys from Babylon come. It's because Yahweh has departed 
that the temple is ripe for judgment. It's not the case that Yahweh 
is present in the temple and the Babylonians come with their 
filth and their destruction. No, the glory of God has departed. 
The subsequent activity in terms of the judgment, the city being 
sacked and the temple being destroyed, that's an evidence or a manifestation 
of the greater problem. Yahweh has departed. Note specifically 
in Ezekiel 8... I'm sorry, 8.6. Furthermore, 
he said to me, and we're going to cram a lot of material into 
two verses here, 8 through 11 is, you know, pays careful meditation 
in light of Matthew 23. But notice 8.6, furthermore, 
He said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? 
The great abominations that the house of Israel commits here 
to make me go far away from my sanctuary. Now note, in 11.23, 
Matthew, I'm sorry, Ezekiel 11.23, toward the end of the record 
of the departure of the glory of Yahweh. Note specifically 
verse 23, and the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of 
the city and stood on the mountain. which is on the east side of 
the city. Do you know what that mountain 
is? It is the Mount of Olives. Do you see what Christ is doing? 
He departs from the temple, the glory of Yahweh, the glory of 
God with us, Emmanuel, Matthew 1.23. He departs from the temple 
and He goes to this mount that is east of the temple. And there 
He speaks the prophecy concerning the destruction of the temple. 
It's just like Ezekiel 8 to 11. One man says, with reference 
to Ezekiel 11, The real tragedy of the exile was not the removal 
of the people, nor even the utter destruction of the city and the 
temple. It was the departure of their God from their midst, 
an absence symbolized in one of Ezekiel's visions by the movement 
of the Shekinah, that's the glory of God, that glory cloud, the 
movement of the Shekinah from the temple to the summit of the 
Mount of Olives. That's exactly what we're finding 
in Matthew 23. Woes to you because of what you've 
done. Judgment to you because of what 
you've done. Lament over you because of how 
gracious I am. And announcement, your house 
is left to you desolate. Now we finish with verse 39, 
which is a tough verse, brethren. I'm not going to kid you here. 
It's a tough verse. I'm simply going to give you 
the positions and tell you the one I favor. Note what he says, 
"'For I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say, 
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Does that mean come in His glory 
at the second coming? Does it mean come in judgment 
at 80-70? Does it mean when He comes back 
to the temple when they're going to crucify Him? What's the coming 
that's in view in this particular instance? Most take it as a reference 
to His second coming in glory, the physical second coming when 
Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead. And based on that, 
some suggest the reference is to the second coming of Jesus 
and indicates that Jews will confess Him savingly. Coupled 
with their interpretation of Romans 11, that there will be 
an ethnic salvation or salvation of ethnic Jews at the end, they 
suggest that verse 39 is to be described or understood in that 
way. When Jesus comes again in glory, many of the Jews will 
call him blessed, many of the Jews will say, blessed is he 
who comes in the name of the Lord, and they will find themselves 
among the saved. So that's one position. Another 
position, again, points to the second coming. and says that 
when Jesus comes, the Jews, along with everybody else, but in context, 
specifically the Jews, indicate that Jesus will come and that 
the Jews will acknowledge Him. Not confess Him savingly, but 
acknowledge Him. And a text that is helpful to 
understand this position is Philippians 2, 10 and 11. that at the name 
of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those 
on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the 
Father. Paul in Philippians 2, 10 and 11 is not saying everybody's 
going to be saved. You need to mark this down in 
your head and heart. You're not a believer this morning. 
You will confess that Jesus is Lord. You will do this one day, 
but it won't be as Savior, it won't be as Redeemer, it won't 
be as the One who is altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand, 
it won't be as the One who has saved your soul from hell, but 
confess you will. Every tongue will, every knee 
shall bow. And once that is done, the goats 
will be sent to hell. But you will acknowledge this. 
So that's the two positions. That when Jesus comes in His 
glory, the Jews will believe and be saved, or the Jews will 
acknowledge the fact that He is the Messiah they rejected. Now, a more contextual understanding 
of the verse sees something along this way. Go back to 21.9 for 
a moment. I realize that we're doing a 
lot more comparing of Scripture with Scripture than we typically 
do because it's crucial. I want us to get all of it. I 
don't want us to come out on the other side as dispensationalists. 
I don't want us to come out on the other side as confused. I 
don't want us to be scratching our melons and wondering, you 
know, what applied to them and what applies to Obama? I don't 
want that. I want us to get it right. And 
by getting it right, I mean consistent with what the Scripture says. 
Scripture is its best interpreter. Note 21.9. Jesus comes into the 
city. And it says, Then the multitudes 
who went before and those who followed cried out, saying, Hosanna 
to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the 
name of the Lord. That's the same verse in verse 
39. Psalm 118, 25 and 26. Blessed 
is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. 
So Jesus has come from Galilee with pilgrims from Galilee into 
the city of Jerusalem for the Passover feast. The Galilean 
Pilgrims are the ones who confess, Hosanna to the Son of David. 
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in 
the highest. Verse 10. And when he had come into Jerusalem, 
all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? These are the Judeans. These are the people not from 
Galilee. So the multitudes from Galilee, 
I think the text is, or the inference is valid. The multitudes said, 
This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. So going 
back to 2339, it may be something like a conditional promise. It may be something of a conditional 
promise. We've seen the grace of Christ 
already, even in the pronouncement of woes. Notice in 23, verse 
26. He says, blind Pharisee, first 
cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of 
them may be clean also. We noted there that that was 
a word of encouragement by Christ. Remember, he's speaking in the 
manner of men. He's not speaking according to his deity in terms 
of election and reprobation. He tells these men, cleanse the 
inside of the dish. If they would have said, how 
do we cleanse the inside of the dish? He would have said, believe on 
me and that will cleanse the inside of the dish. There's a 
conditional promise built in, even in the woes. And that may 
be how verse 39 runs. For I say to you, you Judeans, 
specifically religious leaders, specifically apostates in Jerusalem, 
you shall see me no more. That doesn't mean they won't 
lay eyes on him. They will when they cry, away with him, away 
with him, crucify him. You will see me no more as the 
Messiah, who like a hen, gathers its chicks under its wings. You 
will see me favorably no more till you say, Blessed is he who 
comes in the name of the Lord." In other words, when the Judeans 
recognize that Christ is the Messiah, the way the Galileans 
do, then that may be the means by which you're spared. I think 
that's probably where it goes in terms of the specific context. 
Now, what do we learn from this passage? We learn, certainly, 
concerning the judgment of God. That ought to terrify us. When 
you see how God dealt with old covenant Israel, and you see 
how God deals with this Israel in the destruction that is here 
prophesied, you'll see that the judgment of God is no walk in 
the park. You hear people today, yeah, 
you know, you don't have to worry about that. You should probably 
worry about the most severe and the most difficult and the most 
heart-aching thing that you'll ever undergo. You should be concerned 
about the reality that you and your sinful self is going to 
stand before a thrice holy God, a God who is so majestic that 
the angels who stand before Him continually have to cover their 
eyes because they cannot see the glory and the majesty of 
God Almighty. I mentioned last week when we 
looked at Leviticus 16. Remember that the high priest 
on that day of atonement, when he goes behind the veil, he takes 
that censer and he puts the incense in it so that the smoke goes 
up. Most likely, one of the reasons why that smoke goes up is to 
shield his eyes from the glory of Yahweh. He cannot perceive 
it. He cannot see it. He cannot look 
upon it, because God's holiness burns. It's majestic. The angels have to cover their 
faces, and the high priest has to cover his eyes. How do you 
think you're going to stand on the Day of Judgment, when you 
have broken every one of the Ten Commandments? when you have 
sinned with impunity, when you have rejected and you have rebelled 
and you have forsaken, you've taken your body and done things 
God said never to do with, you've taken things that God said never 
to take, you've done things with your mouth, you've done things 
with your actions, you've done things with your thoughts, all 
of which God has clearly prohibited, and yet we do it each and every 
day. We take those two great summary statements concerning 
the entirety of the law of God, you shall love the Lord your 
God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Do you ever 
do that? Have you ever done that? Can 
you look back to two seconds in your life where you said, 
yes, I was in the zone, I was loving God with all my heart, 
soul, mind and strength? No. Can you ever reflect back 
on two seconds where you loved your neighbor as yourself? You didn't try to exploit them, 
you didn't try to use them, you didn't try to get the better 
of them, you didn't try to exalt your... No. We have broken God's 
law. We are justly liable to His punishment. We are justly culpable and responsible 
to a thrice holy God, and we will stand before Him one day. 
You know, they say in life, death and taxes are the two inevitabilities. 
I've mentioned before, you cannot pay your taxes. I don't suggest 
it, but you cannot pay your taxes. If you're willing to go to jail, 
if you're willing to have your life radically altered, you cannot 
pay your taxes. Hebrews 9 tells us the two inevitabilities. It is appointed unto men to die, 
and then comes judgment. You cannot pay your taxes, but 
you will stand before the just judge of all the earth. And the 
only way of escape, the only hope for sinners, the only refuge, 
the only place, is in this Christ. It's in this Jesus, who by God's 
grace, according to God's plan, came into this world. He lived 
in obedience to the Father's law. He always loved God. He 
always loved his neighbor as himself. He fulfilled the righteousness 
of God. He did the law. And he died as 
a sacrifice at Calvary. Such that when sinners, by God's 
grace, look to Him, they will live. They will receive the forgiveness 
of sins, and they will receive the imputed righteousness of 
Jesus Christ. Faith. Faith is an interesting 
thing, isn't it? People say, I don't know what 
it is to believe. It is to believe everything the Scripture says 
concerning Jesus Christ. It is to look to Christ. It is 
to look to the Gospel. It is to be that Israelite that 
is bitten and bleeding on the ground, and Moses raises up that 
brazen serpent in the wilderness, and you look and you live. That's 
what faith is, and everywhere the Bible speaks of faith. It 
was recently in a group of people that faith wasn't ever told or 
talked about. Brethren, the Gospel is the reality 
that Christ was crucified, risen from the dead, and thrown at 
the right hand of the Majesty on High, and the response to 
that is to believe it, to look to Him and live. To get your 
eyes off of self, to get your eyes off of accomplishment, to 
get your eyes off of what you think you're good at, to get 
your eyes off of all that, and to look to that One who lived, 
who died, and who rose again. So certainly we learn something 
about the judgment of God in Matthew 23, 37 to 39. We learn something concerning 
the majesty of Jesus Christ. The majesty and the excellence 
of Jesus Christ, the comparison of himself to Yahweh in the Old 
Testament by the use of the simile. It's Christ's wings. It's like 
it was Yahweh's wings. He wanted to gather them as a 
hen gathers her chicks under his wings. The reference to the 
temple in 2113 as my house. and the significance, with Ezekiel 
8-11 in our background, the significance of His departure. He's identified 
in Matthew 1.23 as Immanuel, which means God with us. So while 
God with us is with us in the temple, that's a good thing. 
But when He calls it now, your house, and He departs to the 
east side of the city, He goes up to the Mount of Olives, and 
there He speaks judgment concerning that house. That's a difficult 
thing. As well, I mentioned the question 
concerning free will. Let me just quote John Gill here. 
I guarantee we will finish in five minutes. For those of you 
dear brethren who may think I might exceed my time this morning, 
I will hasten to be quick. Gill says, in his Cause of God 
and Truth, which if you don't have it, sell your shirt and 
get it. Take out a second mortgage. No, don't go quite that far. 
But definitely get Gill's Cause of God and Truth, along with 
his commentaries, Calvin's Institutes and Calvin's Commentaries. You'll 
be fit to go inhabit a desert island. He says, Nothing is more 
common in the mouths and writings of the Arminians than this scripture, 
which they are ready to produce on every occasion against the 
doctrines of election and reprobation, particular redemption, and irresistible 
power of God in conversion, and in favor of sufficient grace 
and of the free will and power of man. You can hear it now. 
Jesus says, I wanted to do this, and you were not willing. So 
the primacy is man's will, Jesus. It's all Proof that we are right 
as Arminians. John 5.40, when Jesus says, you 
are not willing. There it is. It's all up to the 
free will of man. Several things we ought to consider. 
In the first place, the statement that Jesus speaks in verse 37 
is consistent with his humanity, his human nature, hypostatic 
union, human, divine. He is not speaking according 
to divinity. Because we know that divinity 
cannot be thwarted. We know from such passages as 
Daniel 4.35, for instance, that nothing can stay the hand of 
God. Whatever our God does, He pleases. So Jesus is speaking here in 
the manner of men. If you've been around for a while, 
you've heard the doctrine of impassibility, you know what 
that convention means. He speaks in the manner of men. 
That means He speaks according to His humanity to us as men, 
so that we can sink our minds into it. Gregory of Nazianzus 
says concerning this whole idea of him speaking according to 
his humanity or speaking according to his Godhead. He says, what 
is lofty you are to apply to the Godhead and to that nature 
in him which is superior to sufferings and incorporeal, but all that 
is lowly to the composite condition of him who for your sakes made 
himself of no reputation and was incarnate. He goes on to 
say that we must come to know which passages refer to His nature 
and which to His assumption of human nature. And I submit he's 
speaking here according to his assumption of human nature, using 
the language that is common to men, common to prophets, to express 
their lament over a target audience that is going to reap the vengeance 
and wrath of God. Secondly, the gathering is not 
necessarily internal, individual salvation, but it's external. 
The preservation of the temple, the city, similar to the hen-and-chick 
simile which showed Yahweh's provision of shelter and security 
for Israel. A third consideration is the 
statement concerns the children of the fathers. The religious 
leaders are the unwilling who did not come to Christ, and they 
did not allow the children to either. It's unfortunate, but 
these fathers, these religious leaders, taught their children, 
who in turn taught their children. Notice in Matthew 27. Matthew 27, the crucifixion. Verse 25, and all the people 
answered and said, His blood be on us and on our children. So the religious leaders taught 
the people of Israel, taught the people of Jerusalem specifically, 
who in turn taught their children. And as we were reminded this 
morning, Acts 2.39 is not a reference to fatal baptism. The promise 
is to you and to your children. He's talking to Jerusalem sinners. He is talking to the same people 
Jesus spoke of in terms of the rulers and their children. He's 
not promising infant baptism. He is promising the reality that 
if sinners in Jerusalem and even their children repent and are 
baptized, they will call God blessed and they will know the 
joy of the Lord. As well, if the Arminians are 
right, it still doesn't prove what they wanted to prove. Jesus 
doesn't say, I wanted to gather the entire world under my wings. It's Jerusalem, religious leaders, 
specifically the children of the religious leaders. It doesn't 
teach every single human being without exception. The Messiah 
comes to the covenant people. He says to the religious leadership, 
I wanted to gather your children. That's a subset of a subset of 
a subset. It certainly does not teach a 
universal hypothetical atonement of Jesus Christ. The statement, 
as I've already pointed out, actually confirms what is consistent 
with the Reformed faith. You see, if you're not a believer 
here this morning, don't blame God's sovereignty. Well, He hasn't 
predestined me, He hasn't elected me. No, you are not willing. When the Lord Christ returns, 
according to Paul in 2 Thessalonians 1, He will take vengeance on 
them. Who are not predestined? No. 
Who are not elected? No. Remember that whole idea 
of responsibility and blame-shifting? If you hadn't made me, I wouldn't 
have done this. He will take vengeance on them 
who know not God and them who do not obey the gospel. You see, 
there's nothing inconsistent in the Reformed faith to tell 
somebody, your problem is, is that you are unwilling to come 
to Jesus. There's nothing inconsistent 
there. I hope gospel preachers in the Reformed tradition do 
that all the time. Because Jesus does it. You are 
not willing to come to me that you may have everlasting life. 
Remember Jesus with Mary and Martha and Lazarus and John 11, 
when Jesus talks about the resurrection and that He is the resurrection 
and the life? You know what Jesus says to Mary? 
Do you believe this? He presses her. He exhorts her. He calls upon her. He says to 
her, do you believe this? So we can't fault Jesus for being 
a faulty gospel preacher for highlighting the reality and 
the necessity of faith. That is to misunderstand the 
Reformed theology, to think that somehow we don't say to people, 
you're unwilling. Of course you're unwilling. What's 
your problem? You need to repent. You need 
to forsake your sin. You need to look and you need 
to live. The statement is a prophetic 
lament by Christ according to his humanity wherein he follows 
up his condemnation with lamentation in order to reveal his goodness, 
his compassion, his kindness, and his mercy. That's how it's 
supposed to be understood, not as the proof text for Arminianism. 
So brethren, please understand this context as God willing, 
In a month or so to come, we're going to be in the Olivet Discourse. 
Probably there'll be a lot of reminders, a lot of attachment, 
a lot of connection, because as I've said, the Olivet Discourse 
is oftentimes misunderstood. It's produced a great deal of 
confusion in the Church, and it really shouldn't, because 
it really shouldn't be that difficult to understand when we've got 
a Matthew 21 to 23 bird's-eye view on how to navigate Matthew 
24. Well, let us close in a word 
of prayer. Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your Word and 
we thank You for its clarity, its sufficiency. We thank You 
for the fact that You have not left us as orphans in this world. 
You've given us the Spirit, another comforter. You've given us the 
Word of God, which is our guide and our rule and our standard. 
I pray that You'd help us to receive it such and help us to 
delight in it. God, for any and all here this 
morning that are outside of Christ, that will one day face You in 
judgment, I pray these things would ring in their ears and 
hearts, and they would make peace with God through Jesus Christ 
the Lord, that they wouldn't wait till tonight, they wouldn't 
wait till next week, they would, by grace, believe the Gospel 
here and now. Be merciful, we pray, and we 
ask in Jesus' name. Amen.