Corona Chronicles 2: S7:E3: Watch Out!
91 sermons
Here we are. We're in 20 21. I mean, 20 20 was so good they named it twice. But now we're in 20 21. And and we couldn't get in a better passage really, could we?
We're in Jesus talking about the end times and the things that are going to happen. Now there's all kinds of complicated things in these verses, so we're going to go for the basics. And we're just gonna read chapter 13 of Mark's Gospel and verse 5 to verse 8. Jesus said to them, watch out that no 1 deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming I am He, and will deceive many.
When you hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
So here we are in this new year and I guess everybody's sort of thinking, well, I hope it isn't as bad as 20 20, and there's all this promise that it's not going to be. Yep. Jesus doesn't promise anything like that. No. He he says very, very clearly, don't be deceived on these issues.
Yep. Don't think this is heaven on earth because it isn't. Right. And probably people will come preaching that -- Yeah. -- in his name even maybe because he says, throughout the beginning, watch out, and no 1 deceives you.
I think, you know, in other parts of the bible, it says in the end times people will give in and listen to what their itching ears want to hear. And our itching is, we're desperate for heaven, aren't we? We are desperate for heaven. And so, we will almost unquestionably follow anyone who offers it to us now. Which is what we do really, isn't it?
Yeah. Buy a new TV, it will make your life much better. Get the fastest internet. It will be what you've waited for your whole life. And and it's it's without him though, isn't it?
Yeah. There's a false him. Right. Yeah. There's a false Messiah -- Yeah.
-- But in the end you can't have heaven without Jesus -- Yes. -- because he's the 1 that brings it and buys it. He's the son of the new creation and -- Yep. -- all of this. So that's the deception.
Yeah. Anything without Jesus is false Jesus. Isn't it? There's a false messiah and a false promise. Yep.
So be very careful. And and he spends a lot of time throughout this passage, but saying don't be deceived. Yeah. Because as you say, it's very easy to be deceived. And then, you know, part of the deception is we can save the planet If we do this within the next few years, we'll save the planet and stop climate change.
And if we do this, there won't be wars. There'd be peace on earth, and all of these promises that that But he says, no. Yeah. I can promise you this. That in the last days, there'll be wars, there'll be rumors of wars, there'll be earthquakes, there'll be famines.
You are not in control, and you cannot make a heaven on earth. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think his point there is don't be alarmed to see these things because the the only reason you would be alarmed is if you believed that they wouldn't happen. Yeah.
Because then you suddenly go, whoa, what kind of God is this? Our God's not in control. I thought Jesus had come to bring peace on earth. Yeah. And then you've got to think through, what does he really mean by that?
Because yeah. So you so you would be alarmed if you were expecting heaven now. Of course, you would be alarmed. Yeah. I mean, we're alarmed even sort of knowing what kind of world we live in, we're still alarmed by it.
Yeah. So we can promise, I think, 20 21 is going to be worse if perhaps than 20 20, you know, even with seen. Yeah. Because nations will rise against nation. And most of the world will be in famine, in poverty.
That's right. Yeah. The trouble is our rich world gets worried about a virus because it kills Well, it seems to kill more people in our western world. But we don't really care about the rest of the world -- Yeah. -- and the things that are going on, you know, with malaria and all of those things.
That's right. The world. Nations will rise against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, There's war, there's earthquakes, there's famines going on in our world. Yep. Now, it all sounds hopeless -- Yes.
-- and rather doom and gloom. But that little phrase right at the end, and these are the beginning of birth pains. What's that mean? Yeah. Well, that it's bit of good news, isn't it?
Because it's not saying that these are your punishment for forever or this is this is just the beginning of the end. It's the beginning of something new. Birth pains are the prerequisite to new life and and it's temporary, isn't it? Birth pain compared to the, you know, length of a life is is is very short. And so these things that we're suffering with now are creation groaning and moaning because a new life is on its way -- Yeah.
-- which is better. Yeah. Which which Romans chapter 8, Paul says, doesn't Yeah. That the whole of creation is groaning and moaning as in childbirth -- Yeah. -- sort of thing.
Yeah. Because because that's what women go through, thankfully. Yeah. We men don't have to go through this. But women are, you know, they're in massive pain.
Yep. And it's a painful thing. But at the end of the pain -- Yep. -- there is this new life and new birth. And so Jesus is saying, this world is collapsing.
Yeah. But there's a new world in him. Yes. So don't be deceived -- Yes. -- by a false hymn.
Yes. Don't try and get this now. Yes. Because it's whatever we get whatever we get now, it's interesting, isn't it? People, even the richest people in this world, people who live in what we would recognize as heaven on earth -- Yeah.
-- are still totally dissatisfied, aren't they? And struggle with meaning and purpose and disappointments. Yeah. Yeah. I mean you can have the vaccine but you're gonna die.
Eventually. Yeah. You can have all the luxuries of the world -- Yep. -- and create this little bubble around you, but the bubble is gonna be burst in the end because death births everything. Yep.
But there's birth pains, there's new hope. Mhmm. So that's why we want to keep looking to Christ this year. That's why we want keep listening to his word, that we won't be deceived, but we'll understand that there is a future. Yeah.
I think we better finish there.