Luke 21:5-9 Don't Be Fooled

Jordan Ivey

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Luke 21:5–9

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Luke 2

Luke 21:5–9 HCSB

5 As some were talking about the temple complex, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, He said, 6 “These things that you see—the days will come when not one stone will be left on another that will not be thrown down!” 7 “Teacher,” they asked Him, “so when will these things be? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” 8 Then He said, “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Don’t follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and rebellions, don’t be alarmed. Indeed, these things must take place first, but the end won’t come right away.”

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Let’s keep track in chapter 21 of what Jesus Saw and what he Said:

In verse 1 Jesus Saw

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He looked up and saw the rich

In verse 2 Jesus Saw

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He looked up and saw

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He also saw a poor widow

In verse 3 Jesus Said

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“I tell you the truth,” He said.

In verse 5 Jesus Said

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He said,

Then the Disciples Asked in verse 7

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they asked Him

In verse 8 Jesus Said

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Then He said,

b Command “Watch out

c Purpose (Neg.) that you are not deceived.

Don’t Be Fooled by False Teachers

v8 that you are not deceived.

We must not be fooled or afraid because of false teachers. That prompts us to ask ourselves, To whom do we listen? Who has our attention? To whom do we give our ear? What are our podcasts and playlists? What are we downloading and streaming? Do we give ourselves over to clear teachers of God’s Word or to people who distract us or muddy the gospel?

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that you are not deceived.

2. Don’t Follow False Teaching

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Don’t follow them.

v8 Don’t follow them.

Let me suggest that most religious programming fails to meet the tests of this chapter. This chapter presumes we are looking for and longing for the glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. So much of our day’s religious programming focuses us on things on earth rather than the coming of the Lord. Too many teachers would have us believe we should not be “so heavenly minded we are of no earthly good.” Yet this chapter suggests that to be of earthly good we must be even more heavenly minded. We are to be undistracted, undeterred, and unswayed by the falsehoods out there. This world and all that’s in it is passing away, but the world to come and the Christ who’s in it last forever. So we must “seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (). Our hope is that our lives are longer than this world because they stretch into eternity with Christ and the Father. False Teachers and Anti-Christs (v. 8). First, the disciples must be on guard against false Christs who attempt to lead people astray. They say what David Koresh said. Of all the signs given, this is the one given with a warning. Stay away from them. Our Lord expected false teachers to enter the church right from the beginning, and they have plagued the church since the days of Christ. The Bible never commends a liberal attitude toward false teachers. The Bible never encourages us to listen to those who present themselves as messiahs or who distort the truth about Jesus. The Lord commends discernment, carefulness, and an attitude of discrimination because he alone is Christ. He’s concerned that we are not dumb sheep led astray, but listening saints paying close attention to him.

The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), .

3. Don’t Fear Future Times

v9 don’t be alarmed.

c Reason Indeed, these things must take place first,

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don’t be alarmed.

c Reason Indeed, these things must take place first,

d Correction but the end won’t come right away.”

So don’t be fooled or afraid. Nod with certainty when you hear the rumors of wars and calamity. Our Lord predicted it centuries ago so we would not be afraid but fasten our hearts on him. The Bible outlines many events that will occur in the last days (see , , and ), but does Scripture give us a primary sign that will mark the uttermost conclusion of the age and imminent return of Jesus? And if so, what is it? The only sure sign of Jesus’ imminent return is found in , where He proclaimed, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” The very last sign Jesus gave concerning right before His imminent return was the preaching of the Gospel all over the world. That’s how we can get a good idea of how close we are to the return of Jesus: the extent to which the Gospel is being preached all over the world! Jesus clearly said that when the Gospel is preached unto all the nations, “then shall the end come.” If we want to know how close we are to the coming of Jesus, we must look to the nations. How well we are penetrating and reaching them with the Gospel tells us how close we are to the end! When the whole world has had a witness of the Gospel, then the end shall come according to the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be very careful as we approach the future. Jesus admonished us in , “See that ye are not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” We must not let the noises surrounding us throw us into a state of turmoil or panic. We are people of faith, and we know the end of the story before it even begins! We must keep our eyes on the Lord and our minds on the Word because we have a faith that overcomes the world (see )! Jesus said the last, greatest sign of His return is when all the nations of the earth have had a witness of the Gospel. So don’t let negative news reports make you think it’s all over, because it’s not over until that last nation has had an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! Since this is true, it makes sense, then, that the devil would be actively trying to make believers fearful about the future so they will stop sowing seed. It’s to his advantage if he can get believers to succumb to a fear-riddled mindset of self-preservation and abort their harvests of financial well-being. Not only would that hinder the fulfilling of their own God-given callings and destinies, but it would also hinder the spread of the Gospel and thus delay the coming of Jesus. Of course the devil doesn’t want the nations to hear the Good News! Do you realize how close we are to the whole world having heard the Gospel? He wants to stop it and sidetrack us so we’ll stop what we’re doing! By luring us to stop sowing seed, the devil also ensures that we jeopardize any future financial harvest in our own lives. Therefore, when times get hard and supernatural provision is needed, it won’t be there because there is no seed in the ground to bless and multiply! Don’t let the devil do this to you! Sowing seed will keep you financially blessed through any storm that lies ahead. If you allow fear to dictate your giving and forget the masses of desperate, unsaved people for whom Jesus died, you will only end up hurting yourself. Your financial gifts have the power to save nations! Neither the wind nor the clouds of this dark spiritual climate are to determine our obedience to God! As says, “He that observeth the wind shall not sow: and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” We cannot let the political or financial climate of the world dictate whether or not we keep sowing seed to allow the Word of God to reach the lost nations of the world. There has never been a greater opportunity for spreading the Gospel across the world than right now. All over the planet, people are crying for someone to bring them the truth of Jesus Christ. The whole world knows something is happening; they just don’t know what it is! They don’t understand that the earth is crying out for Jesus to return. So we must go tell them! The problems of the world are real, and we would be foolish not to prepare. But we are also foolish if we trust in riches and move into a self-protective mode. We must keep our hearts and priorities right, regardless of what we hear around us. We must not let the devil push us back into retreat. And we must keep pushing forward — aggressively reaching toward the goal of preaching the Gospel to the ends of the earth. When that goal is achieved, Jesus will come!

Life Application:

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Life Application

1. Vs 5-6 The Church Beautiful Buildings or Bold Believers

21:5-6 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."NRSV Jesus and the disciples would leave Jerusalem every evening of that final week and walk the couple of miles back to Bethany. As they left the city on one of those evenings, some of the disciples commented on the beauty of the temple itself. It was a beautiful, imposing structure with a significant history. Although no one knows exactly what it looked like, it must have been magnificent, for in its time it was considered one of the architectural wonders of the world. The temple was impressive, covering about one-sixth of the land area of the ancient city of Jerusalem. It was not one building, but a majestic mixture of porches, colonnades, separate small edifices, and courts surrounding the temple proper (see the map, "The Temple in Jesus' Day,"). Next to the inner temple, where the sacred objects were kept and the sacrifices offered, was a large area called the Court of the Gentiles (this was where the money changers and merchants had their booths). Outside these courts stretched long porches. Solomon's porch was 1,562 feet long, and the royal porch was decorated with 160 columns stretching along its 921-foot length. The disciples gazed in wonder at marble pillars 40 feet high, each one carved from a single solid stone. The temple's foundation was so solid that it is believed that some of the original footings remain to this day. The Jews were convinced of the permanence of this magnificent structure, not only because of the stability of construction, but also because it represented God's presence among them.

LIFE APPLICATION

2. Vs 8 The Caution to Blind Believers

PEOPLE, NOT BUILDINGS

"A church was burned last night in another case of suspected arson. . . ." These kinds of headlines, unfortunately becoming all too common, are misleading. No one can "burn down" a church; only the buildings are susceptible to destruction by arson. The church is people, not buildings. Even Jesus' disciples lost sight of the truth at times. They admired the great beauty of the restored and expanded temple in Jerusalem, commenting to one another about its magnificence. Jesus gave them a rather startling lesson on perspective: "The days will come when not one stone will be left upon another." It must have grieved the disciples, steeped as they were in Jewish tradition, to know this. And yet the church, the people of God—the true temple—would not only survive but also grow and flourish and ultimately conquer hell itself. Buildings are great tools, but people are the church. It's all right to appreciate a place of worship. Just don't confuse it with the church.

2. Vs 8 The Caution to Blind Believers

Who’s the Trusted Voice in these times?

Mark wrote that the inner circle of disciples (this time with Andrew added—Andrew was Peter's brother; James and John were brothers) came to Jesus privately (). Matthew and Luke did not distinguish the four. Probably all the disciples heard Jesus' answer. They wanted to understand what Jesus meant and when this terrible destruction would happen.

The disciples' question had two parts. They wanted to know (1) When will all this take place? (referring to the destruction of the temple) and (2) Will there be any sign ahead of time?

They expected the Messiah to inaugurate his kingdom soon, and they wanted to know the sign that it was about to arrive. They probably thought the destruction of the temple would merely involve removing the old temple in order to make room for the glorious temple of God's kingdom. The true meaning of Jesus' words escaped them. That the Jews' temple would be destroyed would have been unthinkable to the Jews of that day. Jesus first answered the disciples' second question about the end of the age and the coming kingdom. The disciples wondered what sign would reveal these things, but Jesus warned them against false messiahs: ''Don't let anyone mislead you. For many will come in my name, claiming to be the Messiah.'' Jesus knew that if the disciples looked for signs, they would be susceptible to deception. Many false prophets would display counterfeit signs of spiritual power and authority. Jesus predicted that before his return, many believers would be misled by false teachers coming in his name—that is, claiming to be Christ. In the first century, there were false messiahs pretending to have authority. Many messianic movements sprung up, especially before the destruction of Jerusalem. , which describes a man of lawlessness who will lead people astray, reflects the teaching of this passage.

The first century saw many such deceivers arise (see ; ; ; ; ; ).

Many individuals have claimed to be the Christ or to know exactly when Jesus will return—even some in our own generation. Jesus warned us about them and said clearly, ''Don't believe them.'' Obviously, no one else has been Christ, and no one has been right about the timing of the Second Coming. According to Scripture, the one clear sign of Christ's return will be his unmistakable appearance in the clouds that will be seen by all people (; ). In other words, believers never have to wonder whether a certain person is the Messiah. When Jesus returns, believers will know beyond a doubt because he will be evident to all. Jesus did not leave his disciples unprepared for the difficult years ahead, but he made it clear that there would be a length of time between his first and second comings and that during that time his people would face difficulties. He warned them about false messiahs, natural disasters, and persecutions; but he assured them that he would be with them to protect them and make his kingdom known through them. In the end, Jesus promised that he would return in power and glory to save them. Jesus' warnings and promises to his disciples also apply to believers today as they look forward to his return.

LIFE APPLICATION

THE END IS NEAR!

Have you heard anyone declare: "The Rapture will happen on September 6, 1999"? There have been countless predictions in regard to eschatology, the study of the last times, throughout the history of the church. Every generation of Christians has believed it would be the last. So far, they all have been wrong. Does that mean that Christians should not study passages like or that these passages are of lesser importance? No, if it's in the Bible, it's worth studying. Each verse is beneficial. But believers should approach prophecy with humility, not arrogance and dogmatism. Whatever your beliefs about the end times, realize that you may not have the whole picture and that others may have helpful insights to offer you. If you have been dogmatic about your views, repent and ask God to give you a teachable spirit.

3. Vs 9 The Clarification for Believers

Jesus did not leave his disciples unprepared for the difficult years ahead, but he made it clear that there would be a length of time between his first and second comings and that during that time his people would face difficulties. He warned them about false messiahs, natural disasters, and persecutions; but he assured them that he would be with them to protect them and make his kingdom known through them. In the end, Jesus promised that he would return in power and glory to save them. Jesus' warnings and promises to his disciples also apply to believers today as they look forward to his return.

LIFE APPLICATION

THE END IS NEAR!

The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), .

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