Mosaic Boston - Sermons Mosaic Boston

Mark 14:27-31

Mark 14:12-26

Mark 14:1-11

And so today, given the passage, I cannot jump into every detail of the passage, but what I do want to do is take a broad sweep of the passage and bring out the primary thrust of what Jesus wants us to take away as we discuss the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the end of times, his second coming. And just want to say this comes in between ... We have community groups that meet every week. They discuss the sermons. And we do know when the end of times get brought up as people gather over the word, there's often confusion, disagreement. And so I'm trying to bring us to a simple, clear understanding of this chapter after maybe some people are coming out of last week with a little bit of confusion. I say Pasture Jan's presentation on those verses, I was chewing on it all week, was masterful from my studied perspective as someone who somehow had the blessing to go to seminary and read books for three years. But yeah, we're trying to bring clarity on this topic and bring out the main thrust.
Let me read God's word. Mark 13 verses 24 to 27 to start us off. Mark 13 verses 24 through 37. "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will be falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. From the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near at the very gates. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
"But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the son, but only the father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge each with his work and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore, stay awake. For you do not know when the master of the house will come. In the evening or at midnight or when the rooster crows or in the morning. Lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you, I say to all. Stay awake. The grass withers and the flower fades but the word of the Lord remains forever."
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you today living in a world full of wars and rumors of wars. Full of much conflict and confusion. Today we come to you with thanksgiving, that you have given us your word, the rock, the one, the only true place that a person can firmly stand. We pray that as we open your word, that it would bring courage to our hearts and strength to our feeble bodies. That we would go from this place renewed and invigorated to serve you and to face whatever may come in our lives with hope that you are behind it and that you will be with us through it. Grant us your peace and steadfastness for the journey to come. We come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
It's been a really special year with my middle child. My daughter, Clara. She's been three years old. She'll be four in a couple of months. And what's been really fun to experience with Clara in the season of life at three and a half is her engagement with holidays. Moving from age two to three throughout the past year now and closer to four, she started to remember her celebration of holidays in the past and to start look forward to celebrating them again in the future. And so with Christmas last year, six months out, five, four, three, two, one months out from Christmas, she was talking about Christmas all the time. She was asking, "Is Christmas today?" Just waking up and asking that several months out, multiple days a week. Asking

Heavenly Father, we thank you for a beautiful day to gather as your people to hear from your holy scriptures and pray, Holy Spirit, that you prepare us now to hear from you, to meditate on the end times, that the end is coming, the end of our life, or the end will come when, Christ, you return. And as true as your death, your burial, your resurrection was, so your Second Coming is as true, that day is already set. But as we meditate upon these things, Lord, let us focus on what you focus on, is that we endure to the end, and when we do that by living every single day ready to meet you as if you were to return today, or live as if your return isn't coming for another 1,000 years, or 10,000 years, for that matter.
And help us see that it's the same way of living. To live faithfully today is to live in such a way that we long to leave a legacy of faithfulness. We long to do everything we can to proclaim the gospel, and live in a manner worthy of it, so that many of your elect come into the kingdom through our service. So Lord, use us and use this church to spark revival in our city, in our state, in our nation, in our world. And Lord, continue to empower us as we proclaim the Word. Continue to empower us by the power of the Spirit to speak your words unflinchingly, knowing that it is your Word, it's the gospel, it's the power of God unto salvation. There's nothing that we can do or manufacture, nor do we want to. We want to do your work your way, and see your elect drawn into the kingdom. Lord, bless our time in the holy scriptures. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
We're continuing our sermon series through the Gospel of Mark called Kingdom Come: The Gospel of Mark and the Secret of God's Kingdom. And the secret that we've seen is that Jesus Christ is Lord. And that is the secret to every single most important question in life. The title of the sermon today is Endure to the End. This past Monday was Marathon Monday, beautiful day for it. And usually, my family and I, we go watch the marathon. We live right down the street from Beacon. They block off Beacon, you can't cross it. And we usually do that, it's fun. But we've been in the city for almost 15 years, so I asked my daughters this Monday, "Do you want to go watch the marathon? It's kind of a big deal." And one of my daughters responded by saying, quote, "There's nothing fun about watching people run, Dad." And I was like, "Fair point, fair point." So, I got out of that thanks to her.
But millions do watch. Millions from all over the world watch the marathon. Why? Because endurance is impressive. You're willingly subjecting your body to that much physical pain for how long? How many miles? And there's much to learn for us from that. The Lord Jesus Christ calls His followers to develop endurance for the long haul. He calls us to live a life of faithfulness for all of life and every aspect of life, to keep going, especially when we hit that pain barrier, to fight through the pain. And in a section where the Lord Jesus Christ talks about the signs of the end times, what does He emphasize? Not the precise date, no. What does He emphasize? He emphasizes endurance. "But the one who endures to the end will be saved."
So, however you interpret the end times biblical passages, the most correct interpretation is the one that increases your spiritual endurance, not depletes it. Whatever your interpretation of the details, this is the forest that you must not miss. You must live your life in such a way that you're ready just in case Jesus returns today, because He might, and simultaneously, you live your life with the intention of leaving a Christ-honoring legacy for centuries to come, because Christ might not return for another 1,000 years, or another 10,000 years, for that matter. And the whole time, we have to keep praying, "Our Father, who art in heaven, may your name be holy in my life. May your kingdom come in my life. May your will be done in my life, on earth as it is in hea

This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. 

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you, the God of love, the living and loving God, sent your son Jesus Christ to live the life that we were supposed to live, he did it in our stead, and to die the death that we deserve to die for our law breaking. Jesus, we thank you that through your resurrection on that third day, on that first Sunday, the first resurrection day, you triumph over Satan's sin and death. The greatest enemies, our greatest enemies were placed as a foothold under your feet. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are the life and the resurrection. You promise that whoever believes in you, though he die, will pass into eternal life. We thank you for the promise of the resurrection, that in the resurrection we will rise with glorified bodies, transformed bodies. We pray, Lord, that you continue to establish us by the power of the Holy Spirit in your will in obedience of faith.
We thank you for the Holy Scriptures, Lord, and as we meditate on how Christ read the Scriptures, how he revered the Scriptures, how he submitted to them, I pray that you make us some people who love the holy Word of God and make us some people that long to be truly devout, sincere in our faith, knowing that your opinion of us is the one that matters most. Lord, make us the people that hate hypocrisy, hate hypocrisy within ourselves, that distance between what we show to the world and what we are inside and make us the people of integrity, integrated within loving you with all of our heart, with all of our strength, with all of our mind and strength. Lord bless our time, the Holy Word. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.
We're continuing our sermon series through the Gospel of Mark called the Gospel of Mark and the Secret of God's Kingdom, Kingdom Come. The title of sermon today is Love God and Hate Lies. You've seen the yard sign, "Hate has no home here." Well, then God has no home there because God hates, and that sign hates God. God hates because God is love. Because he is love, there are things that he hates. In Proverbs 6:16-19 it says, "There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are in abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers."
Our God is a God of perfect holiness; therefore, he must hate evil to remain in perfect holiness. And our God is a God of infinite love; therefore, he must hate that which destroys the object of his love lest he isn't loving. To love is to hate. To love God is to hate Satan. To love good is to hate evil. Proverbs 8:13 says, "The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance in the way of evil and perverted speech I hate." Or Romans 12:9, "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good." So to love truth, we must hate lies.
Psalm 119:163 says, "I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law." To love God's word is to hate any perversion of it, any adulteration of it, and to love the Gospel is to hate any false gospel. Galatians 1:8-9, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed." Strong words.
A false gospel dishonors the person and the work of Christ, and Christ is the supreme object of God's love, the supreme display of his infinite goodness, and the one who accomplishes God's ultimate purpose to display his glory. In false gospels, they lead people away from Christ and the gospel by which they may be saved and enjoy forgiveness of sin, new life, and eternal happiness wi