{"id":18471,"date":"2018-01-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-28T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-012\/"},"modified":"2018-01-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-28T06:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-012","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-012\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 012"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[13],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18471","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-exodus","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 012","sermon_date":"20180128","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5368,"sermon_slides":5369,"sermon_mp3":5374,"sermon_id":"1281811434410","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":13,"chapter_and_verse":"4:22","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 12\n\n1-28-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 12\n\nLet\u2019s open in a word of prayer.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for this morning and grateful for Your sovereign work in our lives, even some of the surprises that You give us and we thank\u00a0 You that you\u2019re faithful in all of it.\u00a0 So help us this morning as we try to grow in our understanding of the doctrine of the church and later on as we try to grow in our understanding concerning some complicated and misunderstood things about the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 I ask that for the illuminating ministry of the Spirit and I do ask, Father, that\u00a0 You would apply the Word to Your people and we might leave here different, with a different way of thinking, and that we might apply it to our lives.\u00a0 We ask this in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen!\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to John 14:26.\u00a0 As we continue our study on Ecclesiology, which as\u00a0 you know is the doctrine of the church, those are some of the categories that we\u2019ve covered prior to Roman numeral V.\u00a0 And the last few weeks we\u2019ve been in Roman numeral V trying to understand the basic differences between Israel and the church; trying to understand the church compared to Israel as a unique new man for the work of God.\u00a0 We\u2019ve looked at those eight comparisons, we\u2019ve looked at the next eight comparisons; that takes us to about sixteen differences.\u00a0 Anybody remember how many differences we found?\u00a0 At least twenty-four, which is easy to remember because how many elders are there in the Book of Revelation?\u00a0 Twenty-four.\u00a0 I\u2019m not tying the two together, I\u2019m just saying that\u2019s an easy way to remember it.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve looked at numbers 17 and 18 and we come here to number 19, and with any help from God at all maybe we can finish this list today.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve promised that a lot of times haven\u2019t I?\u00a0 And I never seem to be able to deliver.\n\nBut one of the big differences between Israel and the church\u00a0 (and if you understand this it will save you so much confusion) is Israel and the church, they have two different farewell addresses.\u00a0 Jesus gave the farewell address to Israel in what is called the Olivet Discourse.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll find that in Matthew 24 and 25.\u00a0 And in that discourse, as I\u2019ll try to show you, He was saying farewell to Israel and outlining her future.\u00a0 And on the same Passion Week, the final week of Christ\u2019s life, He gave a totally different address on a totally different day called the Upper Room Discourse because He gave that address sin the Upper Room.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll find that in John 13:17.\n\nSo Olivet Discourse given on the Mount of Olives, Matthew 24 and 25.\u00a0 Upper Room Discourse given in the Upper Room, John 13-17.\u00a0 It\u2019s really John 13-16 and in chapter 17 you have Christ concluding it with this high priestly prayer on behalf of the church that is about to be birthed on the day of Pentecost, following His crucifixion and His resurrection and His ascension.\n\nSo I think in your handout, did you all get a handout, just put your hand up and Ron will help you with that, you should have this chart.\u00a0 This chart shows you the basic differences between the Olivet Discourse and the Upper Room Discourse.\u00a0 The scriptural area for the Olivet Discourse is Matthew 24 and 25.\u00a0 The scriptural area where you\u2019re going to find the Upper Room Discourse is basically, as I\u2019ve said before, John 13-17.\u00a0 The location of the Olivet Discourse is on the Mount of Olives.\u00a0 The location for the Upper Room Discourse is in a different place entirely; it\u2019s in the Upper Room.\u00a0 And when you look at the Passion Week, the final week of Christ\u2019s life, He gave the Olivet Discourse on the third day of that week, and He gave the Upper Room Discourse on the sixth day of that week.\n\nAnd the whole focus of the Olivet Discourse is Israel, Israel\u2019s future.\u00a0 I know I had you open up to John 14:26 but you can just keep your finger there and slip over just for a minute to Matthew 24.\u00a0 What does Jesus say, what are some things He says in the Olivet Discourse.\u00a0 If you look at verse 15, I hope it looks familiar to you as we\u2019ve been studying Daniel in the main service, but He quotes Daniel 9:27.\u00a0 He says, [Matthew 24:15] \u201cTherefore when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through the prophet, \u00a0standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),\u201d\u00a0 so He\u2019s quoting there the 70th<\/sup> week of Daniel. \u00a0And does anybody remember who the seventy weeks prophecy concerns?\u00a0 Israel, it goes right back to Daniel 9:24 where Gabriel told Daniel that this 490 year clock is given to Daniel\u2019s people and Daniel\u2019s city.\n\nAnd then if\u00a0 you drop down to verse 16 Jesus says to the Jews living on the earth at this time, He tells them what to do when they see the desecration of the temple in the middle of the tribulation.\u00a0 He says sin verse 16, let those who are in Houston flee to the mountains, I\u2019m sorry, it doesn\u2019t say that.\u00a0\u00a0 You see how Jewish this is?\u00a0 \u201cLet those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.\u201d\u00a0 Now what\u2019s interesting about that prophecy is that\u2019s part of what the world community calls the West Bank, which is better named Judea and Samaria.\n\nSo in order for this prophecy to be fulfilled the stage had to be set, the nation of Israel had to win back that territory as part of its own borders because He\u2019s talking about Jews in Judea fleeing and that happened in the Six Day War, June of 1967, and they got back what people flippantly call the West Bank, which is really Judea and Samaria, and so right then and there the Lord, I think, massively set the stage for the fulfillment of these Jews living in Judea to flee to the mountains.\n\nAnd most people believe, I\u2019ll rely on Arnold Fruchtenbaum for this, in his book, Israelology, The Missing Link in Systematic Theology<\/em>, he presents a pretty good case that the Jews are probably going to flee to Petra, which is in Jordan when this happens.\n\nAnd then as\u00a0 you go down to verse 20 it says, \u201cPray that your flight will not in winter or on a Sabbath.\u201d\u00a0 So obviously there you know He\u2019s talking to Israel because we worship the Lord not on the last day of the week, as the church age, but on the first day of the week because Jesus rose on Sunday.\u00a0 But the Jews going back all the way to the time of Moses worshipped on the Sabbath.\u00a0 So what I\u2019m trying to get at is the language here is Jewish, Jewish, Jewish, Jewish, Jewish.\n\nSo the whole focus of the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24 and 25 is the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And a lot of people rush into Matthew 24 and 25 and they\u2019re trying to find church age ideas in there.\u00a0 The reality is if you\u2019re looking for church age ideas in there you\u2019re looking in the wrong place of the Bible because Matthew 24 and 25 is the farewell address to Israel. An awful lot of people are confused on this; they want to see the rapture in here because it talks about one taken and another left.\n\nBut when you actually study that out, beginning around verse 39 of Matthew 24, \u201cthey did not understand until the flood came and took them all away,\u201d see that?\u00a0\u00a0 So to be \u201ctaken\u201d here is it a good thing or a bad thing?\u00a0 It\u2019s a bad thing, they\u2019re taken away in the flood; that\u2019s the analogy Jesus gives.\u00a0 And \u201cthey did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be,\u201d and here\u2019s where everybody wants to find the rapture, I believe in the rapture, right!\u00a0 I just don\u2019t find it in this part of the Bible.\u00a0 People go to the wrong parts of the Bible to find doctrines.\u00a0 He says there in this verse, \u201cso will the coming of the Son of Man be, then there will be two in the field, one taken, one will be left.\u201d\n\nNow when you keep this in its context what you see with the connection to Noah\u2019s day is to be taken away is a bad thing.\u00a0 So what is this talking about?\u00a0 This is not talking about the rapture of the church; this is talking about the return of the Lord for Israel at the end of the tribulation period.\u00a0 Some people will be believers, other people will be unbelievers.\u00a0 The unbelievers are going to be taken off the earth into judgment.\u00a0 And those that are not taken are believers and they will go into the kingdom in their mortal bodies.\u00a0 See that.\n\nAnd when you simply cross reference this with Luke 17 beginning in verse 34 Jesus tells the same story and it\u2019s recorded over there.\u00a0 He says beginning in verse 34 in Luke 17, \u201cI tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left.\u00a0 [35] There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left.\u201d\u00a0 [36] \u201cTwo men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.\u201d\u00a0 And everybody uses that and says that\u2019s the rapture of the church but if you keep reading in verse 37 it says, \u201cAnd answering they said to Him, \u2018Where, Lord?\u2019\u201d In other words, those taken, where do they go?\u00a0 \u201cAnd He said to them,\u201d look at this, verse 37, Luke 17:37, \u201c\u2018Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So those taken are taken into judgment, they\u2019re taken into death, their souls are then escorted into hell because they are unbelievers at the end of the tribulation period and the vultures begin to gorge themselves on their corpses.\u00a0 See that?\n\nSo when you try to build a doctrine you have to look at all the Scriptures on it.\u00a0 And contextually the people that are taken in the Olivet Discourse are taken into judgment.\u00a0 Being taken, in this sense, at the end of the tribulation period is not a good thing but it\u2019s a bad thing.\u00a0 See that.\u00a0 So those taken it\u2019s a bad thing and those that are left behind is a good thing because they will enter\u2026, they\u2019re believers so they will enter the kingdom in their mortal bodies and they will repopulate the earth.\u00a0 Now compare that to the rapture.\u00a0 It\u2019s the opposite, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 In the rapture to be taken, is that a bad thing or a good thing?\u00a0 That\u2019s a good thing!\u00a0 And to be left behind, Tim LaHaye wrote a whole series of novels on this, a fiction series.\u00a0 To be left behind is a bad thing.\u00a0 That\u2019s the opposite of what\u2019s happening here in the Olivet Discourse.\u00a0 Being left behind is a good thing, being taken is a bad thing.\u00a0 See that?\n\nYou should already be saying\u00a0 yeah, that makes sense because of verse 15 of Matthew 24, verse 16 of Matthew 24, verse 20 of Matthew 24, which seem to indicate that this is not speaking of the age of the church at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s speaking of God\u2019s future plans for Israel in the 70th<\/sup> week of Daniel, really at the end of the 70th<\/sup> week of Daniel after the church is gone.\u00a0 But I can\u2019t tell you how many conferences I go to where people want to use these verses to teach the doctrine of the rapture, which of course I believe in the rapture, I just don\u2019t go here to find it because this is Israel\u2019s material. Do you see that?\n\nIn fact one guy, he was driving me back to the airport and I got into this conversation with him and he said well, if you\u2019re right on this I\u2019ll have to change all my ministry literature and posters and everything and I can\u2019t do that.\u00a0 So to this day he still holds to\u2026 he\u2019s got Matthew 24 all over everything and he just doesn\u2019t want to buckle on this.\u00a0 But I say let\u2019s go with the Word of God and just redo the ministry literature.\u00a0 Amen!\n\nI mean, the website we can change that, I don\u2019t want to go around changing the Scripture.\u00a0 So the general focus of the Olivet Discourse is God\u2019s farewell address to Israel.\u00a0 It is totally different in the Upper Room Discourse where Jesus is saying hello to the church.\u00a0 The church doesn\u2019t exist yet.\u00a0 And if you want to find the rapture teachings in the teachings of Christ I wouldn\u2019t go to Matthew 24 and 25 to do that.\u00a0 I think the first time Jesus ever makes reference to the rapture of the church is not in the Olivet Discourse but it\u2019s in the Upper Room Discourse and I think it\u2019s right there in John 14:2-3, \u201cIn My Father\u2019s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. [3] If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there<\/em> you may be also.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s been a lot of commentators, the first commentator I ever saw do this was a guy named J.B. Smith (if I have that right) and he showed a one to one conceptual parallel.\u00a0 He\u2019s got the eight parallels and they come exactly in the same order.\u00a0 And I wish I\u2019d brought my chart in to show you but he shows how conceptually the ideas line up exactly point by point, eight or so in a row, with first Thessalonians 4:13-18, right down to words of comfort, and so it would make sense to me that that\u2019s what\u2019s happening in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 since the apostles, whom Jesus is addressing, are going to become the primary authors of Scripture.\u00a0 And so their job is going to be to expand in the kernel truths that Jesus planted in the Upper Room Discourse.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he keeps saying all the way through this discourse, \u201cI have many things to tell you but you cannot\u201d what? \u201cbear them now.\u00a0 [13] But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 [John 16:12-13a]\n\nSo the way it works is Jesus is talking to the disciples and He\u2019s making a prediction and He\u2019s giving them information about the church; the church hasn\u2019t been revealed yet so He\u2019s giving them kernel truths and He\u2019s basically explaining to them that they\u2019re the ones that are going to take these kernel truths be seeds and expand them into what we call the epistles.\n\nSo the focus of the Olivet Discourse is Israel, the focus, farewell to Israel.\u00a0 The focus of the Upper Room is hello to the church.\u00a0 The specific focus though, what I just gave\u00a0 you there was the general focus, the specific focus of the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 14 and 15 is Israel\u2019s future.\u00a0 Now that they have rejected their King how in the world is God going to get them into compliance by faith with His covenants so he can bring His kingdom in and through them to the earth?\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s being explained in Matthew 24 and 25.\n\nAnd we learn there that He\u2019s going to use a horrific event called the great tribulation period to accomplish it.\u00a0 That\u2019s the tool that God will use to bring tiny Israel to faith.\u00a0 She\u2019s in unbelief today but one of these days she will be in faith and it will be through the fires of the tribulation period that God will accomplish this.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you see so much tribulation language in Matthew 24.\u00a0 For example, if you look at Matthew 24:21-22, not only will there be the desecration of the temple but\n\nHe says in verse 21, \u201cFor then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. [22] Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect\u2026.\u201d \u00a0Now don\u2019t get your Reformed theology out and read our personal election into that because you go all the way through the Old Testament Israel is called the elect nation over and over again.\u00a0 It\u2019s not talking about us, elect individual Christians in the body of Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s talking about God\u2019s chosen choice nation.\u00a0 The disciples all being Jewish would understand this.\u00a0 \u201cUnless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, bur for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.\u201d\n\nIn other words He\u2019s saying if I allowed the seven year tribulation period to go a week over its allotted time frame or a month over or a\u00a0 year over all the Jews would be dead because they\u2019re going to go through this incredible purging process where we learn from the prophet Zechariah that two-thirds of them will be broken off in unbelief and God will preserve a remnant of one-third.\u00a0 And Jesus says if this period goes any longer all the Jews would be dead and God can\u2019t allow that to happen because He\u2019s got to fulfill His covenant through Israel. Right!\u00a0 Which means there\u2019s got to be at least a handful of them left on the earth by the time the tribulation period is over.\n\nSo by the time the whole thing is over He\u2019s got believing Jews and unbelieving Jews; the unbelieving Jews are taken off the earth into judgment.\u00a0 The believing Jews are left behind and they go into the kingdom and they repopulate the earth in the millennial kingdom, not at all to be confused with the rapture of the church which precedes this whole time period.\u00a0 So basic knowledge of the Israel\/church distinction will save you so much utter confusion which is so rampant today in the area of eschatology.\n\nThe specific focus, therefore, of the Olivet Discourse is Israel\u2019s future; the specific focus of the Upper Room Discourse is the divine provisions that are going to be made available to the church because Jesus starts to tell them that He\u2019s going away and they start to push the panic button, which you can imagine they would they\u2019ve been with him for three years.\u00a0 He had mentored them over three\u00a0 years, they loved Him and all of a sudden He says oh, by the way, I\u2019m leaving.\u00a0 And most of them didn\u2019t even understand the crucifixion and the resurrection which is right around the corner and the ascension. So those events are imminent and He starts to tell them I\u2019m leaving and they\u2019re panicking and this is where He says it is to your advantage that I go away.\u00a0 [John 16:7, \u201cBut I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.\u201d]\n\nWell why is that?\u00a0 Because when I go, He, the Spirit, will come, the Spirit is, in these verses the paraclete<\/em>.\u00a0 The paraclete <\/em>is the one who comes alongside and assists. If you look at John 16:7 he says, \u201cBut I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away;\u201d that had to have blown their mind, they\u2019re with him for three\u00a0 years and He says actually you guys, it would be better for you if I left.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because \u201cfor if I do not go away, the Helper\u201d that\u2019s the Paraclete,<\/em> the Holy Spirit, the one who comes alongside to assist, \u201cthe Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.\u201d\u00a0 In other words what\u2019s going to happen is the paraclete is going to be dispatched by Jesus the moment He ascends, Acts 1, and takes His seat in His high priestly ministry at the right hand of the Father.\u00a0 His first order of business is going to be to send to the church, which will just be forming, it forms on the day of Pentecost, He\u2019s going to send them the Holy Spirit, the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit is going to start.\u00a0 And so He says things like I in you and you in Me.\u00a0 I\u2019m in you through the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit; you in Me through the Spirit\u2019s baptizing ministry which identifies us with Christ\u2019s body.\u00a0 That is all stuff that they knew nothing about.\u00a0 They had a knowledge of the Spirit but all of these things that He\u2019s talking about are brand new and the Upper Room Discourse is unfolding these things.\n\nSo Jesus is on the earth and He could really be intimate with twelve people; and actually within the\u00a0 twelve there\u2019s even a smaller, more intimate group, as you study the Gospels, consisting of Peter, James and John.\u00a0 And this is why He says it\u2019s to your advantage that I\u2019m going because once I go the Holy Spirit will be in every single one of you.\u00a0 And therefore I can be intimate with all of My children, not just a select or an elite few.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of the tone and the tenure, if you will, of the Upper Room Discourse.\u00a0 It\u2019s all about these divine provisions that the church is going to have. You don\u2019t have that kind of teaching in the Olivet Discourse which concerns the nation of Israel.\n\nAnd one other quick thing, the birth pangs, earth quakes, famine, pestilence, nations at war with each other, when you study those birth pangs they line up perfectly with the seal judgments in the exact order in Revelation 6 and Revelation 7.\u00a0 So to me that\u2019s further evidence that Jesus in the Olivet Discourse is outlining the tribulation period.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a difference of opinion I have with one of my mentors, Dr. John Walvoord, who influenced Hal Lindsay.\u00a0 Walvoord influencing Hal Lindsay basically took those birth pangs as signs in the interadvent age that are happening now.\u00a0 And I like Walvoord and I like Hal Lindsay but almost every time you turn on Hal Lindsay\u2019s program he\u2019s always talking about the increase of earthquakes because he believes that these birth pangs are part of the interadvent age.\n\nDr. Pentecost came along and he said no, (and this is who I was persuaded by) the birth pangs are not part of the interadvent age, they\u2019re the actual seal judgments of the tribulation period, which to my mind has always made an awful lot of sense once I heard it because Jesus is talking about events of the tribulation period.\u00a0 Certainly He\u2019s talking about that in verse 15 with the desecration of the temple.\u00a0 Certainly He\u2019s talking about that in verses 21 and 22 which is talking about a time of unparalleled distress unequalled from the beginning of the world.\n\nSo part of the issue with Hal Lindsay is he makes these claims that earthquakes are increasing and what that does it opens the debate, because other people come along and say earthquakes aren\u2019t increasing.\u00a0 So one camp presents their evidence that earthquakes are increasing; another camp presents their evidence that earthquakes aren\u2019t increasing.\u00a0 Are earth quakes increasing or not?\u00a0 I really don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t even know if I care that much because it doesn\u2019t affect my interpretation.\u00a0 See, Lindsay has to expend all of his time and energy proving that earthquakes are increasing because he bought into the Walvoord idea that this is talking about the interadvent age. So for his end time scenario to work he\u2019s got to prove that they are increasing and growing.\n\nI don\u2019t have to spend any time doing that.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t surprise me to discover that earthquakes are increasing but it\u2019s immaterial, irrelevant because I\u2019m understanding these birth pangs the way Dr. Pentecost taught it, that these are actually concerning the tribulation period itself.\u00a0 Are earthquakes increasing or decreasing or staying the same doesn\u2019t affect my view at all because he\u2019s talking here about the actual tribulation period. \u00a0\u00a0And what he\u2019s actually talking about is the seal judgments because they line up so perfectly.\n\nSo the specific focus of the Olivet Discourse is Israel\u2019s future.\u00a0 The specific focus of the Upper Room Discourse are divine provisions.\u00a0 Now what prompted the Olivet Discourse?\u00a0 If you go back to Matthew 24:1-3 you\u2019ll see the question that set the whole thing up.\u00a0 It says: \u201cJesus came out from the temple\u201d doesn\u2019t that sound kind of Jewish to you, \u201cJesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.\u201d\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the Jews have always made the mistake of looking at the temple as a good luck charm.\n\nI mean, this goes back to the error they made, you can read about this in the Book of Jeremiah, with the first temple.\u00a0 They always thought as long as this temple is here we have the favor of God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Stephen got himself stoned, and when I say stoned I\u2019m not talking about what they do in Colorado. \u00a0He got himself stoned to death, and they probably do that too in Colorado, he got himself stoned to death literally because he started talking about, in that sermon, you can read about it in Acts 7, he started talking about how God doesn\u2019t permanently dwell in the temple.\u00a0 And that totally countervailed Jewish opinion because they always looked at the temple as the good luck charm.\n\nSo the temple, as you know, was destroyed by Babylonians, the majesty of the Solomonic temple, it was rebuilt by the returnees from the exile after 70 years and there\u2019s a reference in John 2:20 to the fact that Herod took the temple and expanded it and beautified it over a period of about 46\u00a0 years. [John 2:20, \u201cThe Jews then said, \u2018It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 So this temple was really something to look at.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the disciples are so impressed with it.\n\n\u201cJesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. [Matthew 24:1] \u00a0And I love how direct Christ is.\u00a0 He wouldn\u2019t be a good politician.\u00a0 He just gives direct answers to issues.\u00a0 \u201cAnd He said to them, \u2018Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019re so impressed with this building you think it\u2019s some kind of good luck charm of God\u2019s favor. \u00a0Let me tell you a little something; this whole thing is about to be torn apart.\n\nAnd we know that happened about 40 years later by the Romans in the events of A.D. 70. And Josephus tells us that the temple caught on fire and the gold in the temple melted between the bricks and dried there and what did the Roman soldiers do to get their hands on that gold?\u00a0 They took the temple apart brick by brick, exactly what Jesus said.\u00a0 And you go to Jerusalem today, and we\u2019ve been there, and you can see the temple building torn apart brick by brick, no brick or stone on another, it\u2019s just what Jesus said.\u00a0 And if that prophecy was literally fulfilled, my goodness, shouldn\u2019t we take the rest of this chapter as literal as well, when he jumps into the future and starts outlining Israel\u2019s future program.\n\nAnd in verse 3 it says, \u201cAs He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately,\u201d I mean, you\u2019ve got to talk to Him privately after a stunning statement like that, what did You mean by that kind of thing; they \u201ccame to Him privately, saying, \u2018Tell us, when will these things happen,\u201d watch this, \u201cand what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?\u201d\u00a0 In their minds they connected the destruction of the temple with the return of Christ.\u00a0 And so Jesus says okay, I\u2019ll answer your question.\u00a0 I\u2019ll talk about My return.\u00a0 So He leaps forward into the distant future, at least 2,000 years, beginning probably right there in verse 4 and starts outlining Israel\u2019s program for the future and how she will be brought to faith under duress and how God ultimately will fulfill His covenants to them.\n\nAnd the whole thing ends with Matthew 25:31 where He\u2019s actually going to sit on David\u2019s throne at the end of this time of duress and orchestrate His kingdom.\u00a0 It says, \u201cBut when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.\u201d\u00a0 Any guesses as to which throne we\u2019re talking about here?\u00a0 David\u2019s throne, the fulfillment of 2 Samuel 7:12-16 which is part of the Davidic Covenant, which is the idea that through David would come an eternal dynasty and so all of those millennial prophecies will be fulfilled.\u00a0 [2 Samuel 7:12, \u201c\u201cWhen your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. [13] He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. \u00a0[14] I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, [15] but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it<\/em> away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. [16] Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.\u201d]\n\nAnd then you drop down to verse 34 of Matthew 25, \u201cThen the King will say to those on His right,\u201d because some are believers and some are unbelievers when He returns so He\u2019s got to separate the two as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats, \u201cThen the King will say to those on His right, \u2018Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom [prepared for you from the foundation of the world.]\u201d \u00a0\u00a0The kingdom is going now, so the end product is a repentant Israeli remnant through a time of distress thereby allowing Jesus Christ to come back to the earth to rescue them to begin the long awaited millennial kingdom which He will at that point begin or inaugurate through the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\n\nAnd what prompted this whole discussion, right there in verse 3 of Matthew 24, He had just talked about the destruction of the temple, they connected that with the end of the age and they said tell us about the end of the age.\u00a0 So he goes, okay, I\u2019ll tell you.\u00a0 And so He gives this very Jewish address.\u00a0 See that?\n\nNow compare that to the Upper Room Discourse, what prompted the Upper Room Discourse.\u00a0 If you go to John 13 and take a look around verse 1, given as we see here from this chart a totally different day of the Passion Week, it says in chapter 13, the beginning of it, beginning of the Upper Room Discourse, \u201cNow before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would\u201d what? \u201cdepart out of this world to the Father,\u201d and then it says \u201chaving loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.\u201d\n\nHe\u2019s going around saying I\u2019m leaving, I\u2019m leaving, I\u2019m leaving.\u00a0 And that really bothered them because as I said before He was their mentor, He was their friend, they\u2019d been with Him over three years, He had taught them, you can imagine the insurmountable things, they had watched His miracles so that the thought of Him leaving was time for them to push the panic button.\u00a0 So to allay that fear He begins to talk about divine provisions, i.e. the Paraclete, the coming of the Holy Spirit, who will be with you and in you forever, John 14:16-17.\u00a0 [John 14:16-17, \u201cI will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; [17] that is<\/em> the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but<\/em> you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.\u201d]\n\nAnd that\u2019s why He says it\u2019s actually\u2026 when He gets to the whole point of this is you all, speaking a little Texan here, it\u2019s actually a good thing that I\u2019m going, and in the process He begins to plant the seed truths concerning the coming church, which they knew nothing about.\u00a0 There\u2019s no prior revelation on the church except for a few hints of it that Christ has made.\u00a0 And the Spirit is going to come upon these people listening to this and they\u2019re going to pen the New Testament.\u00a0 And as Peter tells us, 2 Peter 1:19-20, they\u2019re going to be carried along by the Spirit as the Spirit is going to bring to remembrance the things that Jesus taught them.\u00a0 [2 Peter 1:19-20, \u201cSo<\/em>\u00a0we have the prophetic word\u00a0made<\/em>\u00a0more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.\u00a0[20] \u00a0But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is\u00a0a matter<\/em>\u00a0of one\u2019s own interpretation,\u00a0[21] for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.\u201d]\n\nAnd they\u2019re going to take these seed truths and water them into the full-fledged New Testament epistles that we have today.\u00a0 So my point is the Olivet Discourse is prompted by a totally different set of circumstances than is the Upper Room Discourse.\u00a0 What is the Olivet Discourse doing?\u00a0 It \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0is explaining prewritten Old Testament information.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry to have to have you keep jumping back and forth but we\u2019ve already looked at Matthew 24:15 which is an exposition or a further explanation of Daniel 9:27.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 He is explaining and giving greater understanding to prophecies that had already been given concerning Israel, because this business about the restoration of Israel is not a new teaching.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to find that in the Old Testament and what I believe is this: the key verse that Jesus is probably thinking about here\u2026 can I prove this?\u00a0 Not necessarily but I plan on asking Him when I get to see Him face to face, which is what the Bible says will happen\u2026 Amen!\u00a0 I\u2019m going to ask Him in Matthew 24 and 25 were You thinking about Jeremiah 30:7?\u00a0 I think He\u2019s going to answer yes because Jeremiah 30:7 is basically the Olivet Discourse in microcosm form.\n\nIt says, \u201cAlas! for that day is great, there is none like it;\u201d gosh, that kind of sounds like Matthew 24:21-22, doesn\u2019t it, \u201cAlas! For that day is great, there is none like it, and it is the time of Jacob's distress, But he will be saved from it.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not a time distress for Sugar Land Bible Church, or First Baptist of Houston, but it\u2019s a time of Jacob\u2019s distress.\u00a0 \u201cBut he,\u201d who\u2019s the \u201che\u201d? Jacob, \u201che will be saved out of it.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what Jesus is explaining in Matthew 24 and 25, how Israel is going to come to faith via the events of the tribulation period, be saved, at least a third of them, and the kingdom is going to start through the nation of Israel.\u00a0 What is Jesus doing in the Olivet Discourse?\u00a0 He is expanding on Old Testament passages.\n\nWell, what\u2019s He doing in the Upper Room Discourse?\u00a0 He is talking about a New Testament which wasn\u2019t even a New Testament yet.\u00a0 He\u2019s doesn\u2019t quote Scriptures in the Upper Room Discourse in the same way\u00a0 He does quote some Old Testament Scriptures but not the same way He quotes them in the Olivet Discourse because He\u2019s talking about and predicting a New Testament which will consist of the kernel truths He\u2019s laying down that the recipients or the hearers are going to water and bring into full bloom in what we call the New Testament epistles because John was listening to this thing.\u00a0 John is going to write 1 John, 2 John, 3 John and Revelation.\u00a0 Peter was listening to this thing.\u00a0 Peter is going to write 1 Peter and 2 Peter.\n\nSo if you take a look at John 14:26, which is the verse I had you open up to, so we\u2019re finally getting to the key passage 45 minutes later.\u00a0 Look at John 14:26, \u201cBut the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will\u201d what\u2019s the tense of that verb, past, present or future?\u00a0 Future.\u00a0 \u201cHe will <\/u>teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.\u201d Now what are the things that the Spirit, the Paraclete, is going to bring to their remembrance?\u00a0 Do you know what it is?\u00a0 It\u2019s Matthew, Mark, Luke and John because those books were written decades after Christ left the earth.\u00a0 And how did these books\u2026 you know John didn\u2019t write His gospel probably until about A.D. 90, how in the world could John, as an old man, probably going senile, how could he remember all that stuff that happened sixty years earlier?\u00a0 Well, here\u2019s the answer right here in verse 26, the Spirit will \u201cbring all things to their remembrance.\u201d\u00a0 Everything that you need to remember will be brought back to your remembrance because you\u2019re going to pen John, The Gospel of John.\n\nAnd then He also says, \u201cHe,\u201d the Spirit \u201cwill teach you all things.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the epistles.\u00a0 What are the epistles?\u00a0 The epistles some people think are the lives of the apostles.\u00a0 No, epistles are letters so Paul, who would receive a personal revelation from Christ, Acts 9, is going to write 13 epistles.\u00a0 And then we have 8 general epistles,\u00a0 you have Hebrews, you have James, you have 1 Peter, 2 Peter, you have Jude, you have 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, did I get them all?\u00a0 Those are the eight epistles either written by these guys of people that knew these guys and they are, those epistles, 13 written by Paul and then 8 general letters, are the fulfillment of what Jesus is saying here, \u201cHe\u201d the paraclete<\/em>, \u201cwill teach you all things.\u201d\n\nSo when He says He will bring all things to your remembrance, [John 14:26, \u201cBut the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.\u201d] that\u2019s Matthew Mark, Luke and John.\u00a0 When it says He will teach you all things, those are the letters or the epistles which are binding for the church age believer, 13 Paul wrote and then 8 general letters, which only leaves one book of the Bible left, the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 Notice what Jesus says in John 16:12-13, \u201cI have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them<\/em> now.\u201d\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the Spirit, the Paraclete hadn\u2019t been given\u00a0 yet in the way He would be given in Acts 2.\u00a0 \u201cI have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them<\/em> now. [14] But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you\u201d what\u2019s the rest of that verse say, \u201cwhat is to come.\u201d\n\nDwight Pentecost wrote a book called Things to Come<\/em>.\u00a0 Where do you think he got that title from?\u00a0 Right here, John 16:13.\u00a0 So the Spirit is going to disclose to you things to come\u2014that\u2019s the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 Now certainly there are prophecies in the Gospels and prophecies in the epistles but you find your greatest treatment of prophecy in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 So you see what Jesus is doing here is He is predicting unwritten New Testament material.\u00a0\u00a0 The Spirit, when He comes, will bring all things to\u00a0 your remembrance.\u00a0 Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.\u00a0 He will teach you all things, the epistolary literature, and He will disclose to you things to come, that\u2019s the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 So you see the difference here?\u00a0 In the Olivet Discourse he\u2019s amplifying prewritten Old Testament concepts like Daniel 9:27, like Jeremiah 30:7.\u00a0 That is not what He\u2019s doing in the Upper Room Discourse.\u00a0 He is making bold predictions about the 27 New Testament books that are yet to come.\n\nSo the whole explanation of the Upper Room Discourse is totally different than the Olivet Discourse; different names, different Scriptural addresses, different locations, delivered at different times than the Passion Week, two totally different focuses, one Israel, one the church, two completely different specific focuses, two promptings that prompted these conversations that are totally different.\u00a0 And by the way, it\u2019s best to look at these as conversations, you know, we throw in the word discourse and we think He\u2019s giving some kind of sermon, like the Sermon on the Mount.\u00a0 The Olivet Discourse and the Upper Room Discourse really aren\u2019t sermons, they\u2019re not public addresses like you have with the Sermon on the Mount where He\u2019s speaking in front of a great throng of people and they\u2019re kind of sitting there passively listening to Him.\u00a0 These are conversations.\u00a0 The Olivet Discourse is a conversation just with the handful of disciples that came to Him privately and said what\u2019s going to happen to temple in the end of the age?\u00a0 So I think there\u2019s a lot of back and forth going on.\n\nAnd it\u2019s the same thing with the Upper Room Discourse, He\u2019s only speaking these things to eleven men; the twelfth, Judas, the only unbeliever had left the Upper Room in John 13 so He\u2019s just got eleven left who are very panicked about His departure from the world and He begins to unfold these truths to them.\u00a0 So the promptings are different and the explanations are different.\u00a0 He\u2019s not dealing with written Old Testament material in the Upper Room Discourse but He is dealing with that in the Olivet Discourse.\u00a0 But in the Upper Room Discourse He\u2019s revealing the Books of the Bible yet to come.\u00a0 Do you guys at least feel comfortable with the differences.\n\nAnd most teaching that you get it\u2019s just a bunch of grab a verse here, grab a verse there and there\u2019s not a lot of thought today (for whatever reason) distinguishing these discourses.\u00a0 You go to the right Scripture for the right points.\u00a0 Just like I don\u2019t go to the Law of Moses today to discover what\u2019s binding on the church age believer.\u00a0 That would be a waste of my time because a lot of Moses is not set up to do that, and we understand that.\n\nFor whatever reason we don\u2019t really get it with these two discourses.\u00a0 For whatever reason we don\u2019t really get it with these two discourses and I see a lot of mistakes that folks make.\u00a0 I myself made a lot of mistakes early on trying to understand the Bible because no one really explained to me these differences.\u00a0\u00a0 So we have two farewell addresses.\u00a0 I can do these next three in about 30 seconds.\u00a0 You say yeah, right, because the one\u00a0 you just gave us took almost an hour.\n\nHow about designation?\u00a0 Israel is God\u2019s firstborn Son, Exodus 4:22.\u00a0 [Exodus 4:22, \u201cThen you shall say to Pharaoh, \u2018Thus says the LORD, \u2018Israel is My son, My firstborn.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 By the way, have you ever wondered why God killed the firstborn in Egypt in plague ten?\u00a0 Why did God just target the firstborn all over Egypt?\u00a0 What does Genesis 12:3 says?\u00a0 \u201cThe one who curses you I will\u201d what? \u201ccurse.\u201d\u00a0 Is that literal?\u00a0 Well, my goodness, you took My firstborn into captivity Egypt, so I\u2019m going after your firstborn.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 By the way, have you ever wondered why God drowned the Egyptians.\u00a0 I mean, He could have saved Israel by sending a plague on them, He could have opened up the desert like He did in Numbers 16 and swallowed up the inhabitants.\u00a0\u00a0 I mean, why did He drown them?\u00a0 Why did He drown them in the Red Sea?\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ll find the answer to that in Exodus 1:22, where Pharaoh\u2026 what was Pharaoh doing early on?\u00a0 Drowning the Hebrew males in the Nile.\u00a0 [Exodus 1:22, \u201cThen Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, \u2018Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 So God says, Genesis 12:3, you drown all My people I\u2019m going to drown you.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason why things in the Bible are happening the way they are; it\u2019s related to statements that God makes in the Abrahamic promises.\n\nI said I would do this in 30 seconds\u2026 Israel is God\u2019s firstborn son; the church is never called God\u2019s firstborn son.\u00a0 We\u2019re given a totally different designation, the bride of Christ, etc.\u00a0 Israel is revealed in the Old Testament and a lot of people want the New Testament to read just like the Old Testament.\u00a0 Well if the New Testament read just like the Old Testament we wouldn\u2019t need an Old Testament.\u00a0 Right!\u00a0 The case for Israel is already established.\u00a0 There\u2019s a few hints of Israel here and there in the New Testament but the focus of salvation history primarily, not completely, in the New Testament is the church.\u00a0 We have Romans 11 and Matthew 24 and 25 which indicates Israel will be brought back to faith, repeating Old Testament material.\u00a0 But Israel is revealed in the Old Testament and you\u2019ll also find references to Israel in a minor sense in the New Testament.\u00a0 So Israel is a two-Testament doctrine.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 The foundation is laid in the Old Testament, you get a little bit of a review course in the New Testament concerning Israel.\u00a0 So you\u2019re going to find Israel in both Testaments.\n\nHow about the church?\u00a0 Do you find the church in the Old Testament?\u00a0 You do not; that\u2019s why Jesus said, \u201cI will build,\u201d what tense is that verb?\u00a0 Future!\u00a0 In other words, it didn\u2019t exist yet, it didn\u2019t even exist when Christ made that statement, \u201cI will build My church.\u201d\u00a0 So the future tense indicates you\u2019re not going to find the church in the Gospels, except for a few hints that it\u2019s coming.\u00a0 And you don\u2019t find it at all in the Old Testament.\u00a0 And this is why the church, Ephesians 3:3-6, is called a mystery.\u00a0 And there it is in Ephesians 3:9.\n\n[Ephesians 3:3-6, \u201cthat by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. [4] By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, [5] which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; [6] to be specific,<\/em> that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, [7] of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God\u2019s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. [8] To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, [9] and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;\u201d]\n\nA \u201cmystery,\u201d what is a mystery?\u00a0 It is something that is totally hidden but now disclosed.\u00a0 Israel is not a mystery; we know all about Israel in the Old Testament and the information is repeated to some extent in the New Testament.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not the church at all.\u00a0 The church does not exist in the Old Testament.\u00a0 The church is completely a New Testament doctrine\u00a0 because the church is a mystery; a mystery is something hidden but now made manifest, Colossians 1:26.\u00a0 [Colossians 1:26, \u201cthat is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints.\u201d]\n\nSo you find Israel in the Old Testament and some in the New Testament but not so the church.\u00a0 The church is not a two Testament doctrine; it is a New Testament doctrine completely and even in the Gospels them self the church doesn\u2019t even exist yet. We have hints it\u2019s coming but it\u2019s not yet in existence because Jesus is functioning under that prior dispensation of the Law.\u00a0 He is the last man of the Dispensation of the Law.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because He\u2019s the only one that could live it out perfectly so God had to keep that dispensation going until at least someone could live it out.\u00a0 And God says well no one can live it out so I\u2019ll become a man and live it out.\u00a0 Galatians 4:4, Jesus was born under woman, under Law.\u00a0 [Galatians 4:4, \u201cBut when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.\u201d]\n\nSo I think I\u2019ll stop there; next time we\u2019re together I\u2019ll show you the evangelistic strategy is different between the two.\u00a0 The blessings are different and the composition is different.\u00a0 Any questions.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t