This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back, Tuesday,
March the 3rd, and we are in the book of Luke
today, specifically chapter 21 in our journals
together, in our time together, in our reading
plan. I'm very excited about Luke 21 because
this is going to be a... A crazy week. We've
just gone from reading Haggai about building
the temple, rebuilding Solomon's temple that
was destroyed, then Zerubbabel, and that remnant
that came back rebuilt the temple. Well, we're
going to see today, Jesus is going to talk about
the temple getting destroyed. Why are we on the
temple so much? I don't know. I think it will
help us to maybe see this in light of what all
we've kind of gone through and where we're going
next. We are toward the end of Jesus's earthly
ministry in Luke 21. This week, we will also
look into Matthew 24, which is a bit of a mirror
here. In Matthew 23, it kind of gets us set up
to where we actually are. I want to give you
a little background to Luke 21. Before Jesus
gives this talk, this address to the disciples
and to the people around him, he has just exposed
the religious system for what they are. Prideful,
arrogant, overwhelmingly hypocritical, and...
All of those elements, right? It's not the system
that is humility and care and love of the Lord.
It's pride. It's hypocrisy of the whole religious
establishment. That's what's just taken place.
He's just exposed all that. You can find that
text in Matthew 23 if you want to go into extra
Bible study today. But in Luke 21, now after
he's exposed all that, He goes into the temple.
This temple, by the way, it is the second temple,
but it has been renovated. A guy named Herod,
an Edomite tyrant. This is not the guy that is
a friend of the Jewish people. He is an Edomite,
which we can go into history and talk about that.
But ultimately, we know today he was a tyrant.
He was despised by the Jewish people. He took
the temple and renovated it. and made it and
expanded it and made it this glorious splendor
of a building and architecture. He has built
upon it and made it bigger and golder, and if
golder is a word, I don't even know, but made
it a very big spectacle. Now, Jesus, the setting
is Jesus is in this temple. This is one of the
last weeks in the just days from now. He is going
to be taken and And his life will be put on display
for everyone to see. But in these moments, he
is in the temple and he's walking in. And right
here, we're going to pick up the story in Luke
21. I encourage you, read the whole thing today.
I'm going to talk about the first part, summarize
the middle, and talk about the last part for
us today, for our purposes today. Now, we're
looking at it again on Friday this week. So tune
back in on Friday. We're going to talk about
Luke 21 again. But today, for our purposes, I
want to read the first couple of verses in Luke
21. We'll go down through about verse 6 or so.
Here's what it says. says in Luke 21, beginning
at verse 1, Jesus looked up and saw the rich
putting their gifts into the offering box, and
he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.
He said, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has
put in more than all of them. For they all contributed
out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty,
put in all she had to live on. And while some
were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned
with noble stones and offerings, he said, As
for these things that you see, the days will
come when there will not be left here one stone
upon another that will not be thrown down. Now,
what has just happened here is absolutely mind
-blowing to me. These are Jesus' followers. Around
him, he's standing in the court of women, which
is where the offerings took place right there
in the temple. There are 13 trumpet -shaped boxes,
okay? Now, the reason they were trumpet -shaped
boxes is because you would throw your money in,
and they were metal coins or copper coins or
silver coins. They would throw them into these
trumpet -shaped boxes, and it would be a loud
sound. The more you gave, the louder the sound.
The heavier the coin, the louder the sound. The
bigger the coin, the louder the sound. You get
the idea. And more than likely, the way you poured
it in would make the sound ring even louder.
So in this court of women, it was the area that
women were allowed to go. They could go and give
an offering. And so in this court, Jesus is looking
around, and there are people giving tons of money.
Tons of money. pennies or her two small coins.
And Jesus, he's trying to teach us something
beautiful here. I love Luke 21. It starts with
a widow and her silent small gift. It ends with
the world completely chaotic. And in the middle
of it, it's Jesus trying to teach us something.
He says, look at this woman. She's given all
she has. She's given more than everybody else.
Now, people looking around saying, well, she's
not given near as much as everybody else. Because
I heard a sermon on this one time that was very
convicting. It says, we judge on what we give,
and God judges on what we keep. And that one
kind of struck me, right? Did I give more to
the Lord than I kept this week? My dad used to
tell me he was very convicted at one point, and
he said, you know, I feel so terrible about my
giving. I said, why is that? And he said, because
I kept more than I gave. And I said, well, are
you talking about like 50 %? And he says, I want
to give at least 51 % to the Lord in any way
possible so that I can give more than I have
kept. And I thought, that's crazy. Who lives
like that? But then I look and see like the faithful
people that live that way are the ones that whenever
they see Jesus face to face, get a really big
reward and a really... Big introduction into
the heaven, I'm sure. The rest of us who are
selfish people who try to keep so much, Jesus
is not talking about us in a good light. He talks
about this widow in a good light. What does he
mean whenever he says she's given everything?
She's given out of her livelihood. She's given
everything she had to live on. What that word
means, that's the bios word, to live on. It means
she gave out of absolute dependency. She gave
what she depended on. What does that say about
her relationship with the Lord? I'm not going
to depend on my coins. I'm going to depend on
you. These others gave out of their abundance.
She gave out of her dependency. Powerful, powerful
thing. We look at the big gift of the big givers,
and Jesus looks at the big surrender of those
who surrender to him and to what God is doing.
It sets this entire chapter up, right? Appearance
versus reality. What happens next blows my mind.
How in the world are the disciples, as Jesus
is teaching this lesson, going to say, look at
how great the temple is. Look at how adorned
it is. Look at how beautiful the stones are.
And Jesus says, every stone is going to be upside
down. This temple will be destroyed. Here's what
takes place in the coming verses. I encourage
you, read it all. He begins to dismantle every
thought that this is the glory days. He begins
to take them all down. The disciples start freaking
out. They're like, well, explain to us. When
is this going to happen? When is this going to
happen? And Jesus begins this dissertation. He
begins this whole declaration by saying, first
off, deception comes first. Deception. He says,
there's going to be people that are going to
act like me, talk like me, look like me that
aren't me. There's going to be people that are
going to try to deceive you and say they're me
and they're not. There's going to be false Christs
that come, false messiahs that will show up and
try to deceive you. Why? Because here's what
Satan does. He deceives you, then destroys you.
Destruction is never the first step. It's always
deception. Always. There is a lie that creeps
in. You start believing that lie, and guess what?
You end up being destroyed. That's how it works.
Jesus says it begins with deception, so do not
be deceived. Here's what he's saying in the first
part of this whole lesson that he is teaching,
this whole understanding, this revealing of the
truth. He says, I want you to know who I am and
the purposes and the plans. God is not improvising
the future here. He is setting a plan in place,
and it is happening. That's what's going on.
As Jesus teaches this, he says, I need you to
know this is the plan. I need you to know who
I am and what the truth is so that you don't
get deceived. So know this. Put it in your brain.
Put it in your heart. Tie it to everything in
your life. Do not be deceived. What that means
is I want you to know the truth. That's what
I want you to do. Then the end of the chapter.
There's a lot that happens in the chapter, and
I know some of you are going to run to Revelation
6, and I know some of you are going to run to
Matthew 24. We're doing that in a couple days.
But I know that you're going to say, well, the
end times, end times, end times, end times. Yeah,
we can do all that, but here's what I want you
to be reminded of today. It starts with the faithfulness
of a widow that cares for what God's doing. She
gives what she depends on so that she can show
where her heart and her emotions and everything
she is is where it's located. It's located in
him. Then the disciples are overwhelmed by the
building. The building is so beautiful. What's
crazy? Herod, the builder of this temple, is
a tyrant that they despise. They despise him
and they idolize what he's built. That's crazy
to me. We do that every day. Let your mind run
wherever it wants to run in that. Just know we
despise this builder, but what he's built is
magnificent, and I love it, and I want to be
there where he has built it. We get fascinated
by these things. And Jesus says, be careful.
Don't be deceived in the shiny, flashy stuff.
Don't be deceived in those that are going to
come and try to trick you. Know who I am. Know
what the plan is. Here we go. He then explains
everything that's going to happen. Wars, pestilence.
He says, first off, I want you to know this.
Don't be deceived. Then, don't be afraid. Don't
be afraid. There's going to be wars. There's
going to be persecution. There's going to be
problems. Don't be afraid. You're on my side.
You're on my team. We're good. Then, at the end
of the chapter, I'm going to read a couple more
verses, and then we'll be done. The Bible says
in Luke, 21 down in verse 34. But watch yourselves,
lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation
and drunkenness and the cares of this life. And
that day come upon you suddenly like a trap,
for it will come upon all who dwell on the face
of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times,
praying that you may have strength to escape
all these things that are going to take place
and to stand before the Son of Man. This text
is a challenge for us. I want you to know and
understand what's going on. I want you to watch
and be mindful. I want you to watch. That word
watch is not just sit back and watch. That word
is an active word. So it means be alert or wake
up. Don't be asleep. While all this is going
on, I want you to be active, and I want you to
be awake, and I want you to be a part of it,
and I want you to see it and know that, and it
even ends it with the phrase, the Son of Man.
The Son of Man is the King of Kings. When He
returns in glory, it is going to be unlike anything
we've ever seen. He came the first time, humble,
the Son of Man. The second time, He comes in
all glory and splendor to reign as King. Watchfulness
is proof of life. It means you are awake. You
are alert. So when you watch, you are alive.
That's the concept. Now, let's go back to the
first of Luke 21, right? What does he say about
the widow? She gave out of her livelihood. Now
he ends the chapter, ends this piece, and there's
more that happens in the next couple of chapters.
We'll read those in the coming weeks as we're
in this new series. But here's what he says.
Watch. Be alive. Be alert. That means focus your
attention where it needs to be focused. For the
sinner, this is terrifying. For the saint, this
is a relief because we know who our king is.
Listen, the temple may fall, but the king will
not. The temple can't stand, but our king can't
fall. I want to be encouraging to you today.
I want you to read this text today. Read it with
fresh eyes, fresh ears, and read it with some
encouragement today, knowing that our king wins.
He reigns. We're going to look again a couple
of times this week into some end times pieces,
so you'll get more of that from the podcast later.
But I just want to encourage you today. Be mindful.
Know where you stand. Know where your faith is
placed. Don't be overwhelmed. Don't be distracted
or deceived by the shininess of things in this
world. Be content with who you are in Christ
and watch. Be alert. Do not be a lazy person.
Be a Christian that is active and sharing his
faith because the end will come at some point.
And when Jesus returns, we're going to celebrate
with him forever. Our King reigns.