How to Trust God

Mark 13: 1-8 November 15, 2009

Have you ever tried to make a prediction? I think most of us have. We like to predict the score of a ball game… Predict the weather… Or, predict the outcome of a certain situation… And sometimes our predictions may be right on target but more times than not, we will miss the mark… because you and I can’t predict the future; because the future is not ours to predict…

Illus: Back in 1943, Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM said, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers…” And now, almost every household in America has at least one…

An inventor named Lee DeForest claimed that technically speaking, television maybe feasible, but commercially and financially there will be no market for TV’s. And now, almost every household in America has at least one…

The Decca Recording Company made a big mistake when they made this prediction; “We don’t like their sound and guitar music in on the way out.” That was their prediction in 1962 concerning a group of musicians from Liverpool. Their band was called the Beatles. And almost everyone in America has heard of the Beatles.

Well, as the disciples and Jesus walked out of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus paused, looked back at the Temple and made a prediction… He said, “Do you see these great building? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

To the ears of the disciples, this was a ludicrous statement… In their mind there is no way that this massive beautiful structure could be torn down…

Besides, this was the Temple of Jerusalem, the focal point of world religion… It was built according to God’s plans… And it was massive… The stones that Jesus spoke about were 37 feet long, 18 feet wide, 12 feet thick… they weighed 50-tons apiece… And they were stacked one on top of the other… The walls towered over Jerusalem standing over 400 feet high in places… and inside the walls was 45-acres of bedrock that could accommodate a quarter-million people comfortably… And Jesus predicted it would all be torn down…

You can understand why the disciples would be so surprised by Jesus’ prediction… And later that day while they were sitting on the Mount of Olives which overlooks the Temple; Peter, James, John, and Andrew privately asked Jesus, “When will this take place and what will be the signs?”

And in their voice was fear… Fear of the unknown… Fear that their lives were about to change… For Jesus had never made a prediction like this one… This one was different… To think that the Temple of Jerusalem was going to be torn down was implausible… For the Temple stood for everything that the Jews believed in… Without the Temple, their world as they knew it would come to an end…

Forty years later, the prediction came true… In 70 AD the Temple was destroyed by Rome… and as Jesus had predicted, not one stone was left standing on another, they were all torn down…

You know, history is a great teacher… so what can we learn from the fulfillment of this prediction of Jesus? I think the main lesson we take from this is that we can learn How to Trust God…

First of all, we learn that WE CAN’T PUT OUR FAITH AND OUR TRUST IN TEMPLES… Think about how important this Temple was to the Jewish nation…. It had been the center of their lives and worship for over a thousand years… It was the place where they made their sacrifices… where they confessed their sins, where they gave their First Fruits of the Harvest… It was here that they celebrated Passover, Pentecost, Day of Atonement, Feast of the Tabernacles… It was here that they would sacrifice the lambs for the sins of their nation…

With the Temple such a central part of their life and worship the major question arises: How would they worship God without the Temple?

The answer is easy! They couldn’t! Because they had let the Temple become their God… They weren’t worshipping God, they were worshipping the Temple… They had let the Temple become their God…

That may sound a little unusual to you, but it happens… Without even being aware of the situation, we sometimes allow things to become our temple of worship…

Illus: For example, some people believe that the King James Version is the only Bible that you should read… All the other translations of the Bible are tainted… therefore, you should only read the KJV… I don’t know if that’s the way you feel or not but that’s not true. I’m thankful that we have over a thousand translations of the Bible because we can all find one that we can easily read and understand.

And I know some people think that you can’t have a worship service without reciting the Apostles’ Creed. Or having a responsive reading from one of the Psalms… but this morning we had neither… Does that hinder our worship service? Is God withholding His Spirit because we didn’t do that? Not from me! I’m very Spirit-filled right now…

But church, if we’re not careful, we start placing our trust in things instead of God… Our things become our temples… And as long as things are going well, we can worship God… But the minute things aren’t going so well, we stop worshipping…

Our temple becomes our good health, our temple becomes our bank account, our temple becomes our family, our temple becomes that which we relate to things… and when things go sour, so does our faith and our trust in God…

Let us learn this lesson from history; we cannot put our faith and trust in our temples… Our faith and trust can only be placed in God, the giver and the maker of our temples… That way, we will always worship God even when the temple is torn down…

But the second thing we notice from or scripture is that the disciples asked Jesus about the signs of the time… They wanted to know what signs to look for that would tell them when things would take place… Another lesson from history; DON’T PLACE YOUR FAITH AND TRUST IN THE SIGNS OF THE TIME…

Notice what Jesus said in verse 7, he said, “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”

The key word is “Do not be alarmed; this must take place.” What Jesus is describing is the natural course of the world… He is describing things that will naturally take place on earth but he says to us, “Don’t be alarmed by these things, these things must take place.” Jesus is saying, “these are not end times signs, they are but the beginning of the natural birth pangs on earth.

Church, there is no doubt that this earth as we know it will come to an end. It’s a Biblical truth that one day Jesus Christ is going to return and life as we now know it will cease to exist…

That’s one of the great mysteries of the Bible. In the New Testament, 23 of the 27 books make a reference to the second coming of Jesus… But when? Jesus himself said, “It’s not for the Son to know; only the Father in heaven knows the day and the hour…” If Jesus doesn’t know, then we certainly don’t…

Illus: I’m sure you’ve heard of the date 12/21/2012. Supposedly, December 21, 2012 is the date that the world comes to an end… That’s only three-years and a month from now…

That date is taken from the Mayan calendar… The Mayan calendar was written by a tribe from the Mayo Civilization which existed in Mesoamerica – pre-Columbian, Guatemalan area.

The calendar dates all the way back to 3114 BC… It’s a solar calendar used to predict solar eclipse’ – the changes of the moon and the stars – it’s an almanac… But the reason it’s getting so much attention is that the calendar ends on December 21, 2012. Therefore, that must be the day that the world comes to an end…

Do you see how silly that is? Do you think God in heaven is going to follow a calendar written by a tribe of Mayans? I don’t think so!

Don’t place your faith and trust in the signs of the time – but place your faith and trust in God who is the creator of the sings and times…

Illus: Our founder, John Wesley was asked what he would do if he knew that Jesus Christ was coming back tomorrow… Mr. Wesley said, “I would awake at 4:00 am, spend an hour in prayer and devotion, I would take communion, and then I would go out into the streets to visit the sick and preach.” And then, the one that asked the question said, “But, Mr. Wesley, that’s what you do everyday…” And Wesley replied, “Exactly!”

We don’t know when Jesus will return – but shouldn’t we live our lives doing that which is pleasing unto God? If we don’t live our lives with the expectation that Jesus is coming back – then we’ve misunderstood the teachings of Jesus… Knowing that Jesus is coming back should be a part of our everyday life – it should make us watchful, cautious, and prepared…

At the end of the day, WHAT IS IT OR WHO IS IT THAT YOU PLACE YOUR FAITH AND TRUST IN? Notice in verse 6 that Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you…” And then in verse 7 he says, after all these things have taken place, “The end is still to come.”

Church, do not be deceived! No matter what happens in your little corner of the world; whether it be good or bad or somewhere in between – Jesus said, “The end is still to come…” And the end is not in our hands, it’s in the hands of God… At the end of the day, God is the One that is in control! So shouldn’t we place our faith and trust in Him?

Illus: During the making of the movie “Ben-Hur,” the film director Cecil DeMille talked to actor Charlton Heston, the star of the movie, about the all important chariot race at the end of the movie. The director suggested that Heston should learn to drive the chariot himself instead of using a stunt double… Heston agreed to take chariot-driving lessons to make the movie as authentic as possible.

After several days of lessons, Heston returns to the movie site and tells the director, “I think I can drive the chariot, but I’m not at all sure that I can actually win the race… The director smiled and said, “Heston, you just stay in the race – I’ll make sure you win.”

Those are the words of God to every one of us here this morning. God is saying, __________, stay in the race – I’ll make sure you win!

Church, don’t place your trust in temples; don’t place your trust in signs; but place your faith and trust into the hands of God… and when the end comes and when the race is over – you will be the winner – you will have the victory in Jesus…

Let us pray!