Christ Calls Us to Be Spiritual Long-Distance Runners (Matthew 24:1-14).
length: 60:48 - taught on Nov, 19 2025
Class Outline:
Wednesday November 19, 2025
Spiritual long-distance runners are those who have endurance spiritually.
Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down."
3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"
4 And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. 5 "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.
Endurance runners and not prophets.
He is not going to instruct them to be discerners of signs so as to be apocalyptic prophets.
What Jesus first tells them are general signs that would occur from the beginning of the church to the end, but with a focus on the end, or Tribulational period.
“It is observable that what Christ here says to His disciples tends more to engage their caution than to satisfy their curiosity.” [Henry]
Thus, in a striking way, Jesus’ answer to their desire for signs are historical trends, which we see as the normal chaos that we call history.
Before the Trib and during it - false prophets say what God has not said.
Olivet Discourse I:
End of Temple era - v. 2.
Desire to know times - v. 3.
General trends - vv. 4-14.
Specific trends - vv. 15-28
Sign of the second coming - vv. 29-31.
Only the Father knows when - vv. 32-41.
Be ready and alert - vv. 42-51.
Why we need to look to the future:
Hope is related to the end of time. How any views the next life has a significant effect on the hope they carry within them every day.
“When the hope of life eternal is wanting, man’s dignity is most grievously lacerated.” [Vatican II]
The Lord wants us to know about the future. He wants us to know that He is returning for us. But He does not want us knowing when.
Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
Looking to a future of eternal life in the kingdom of God, but not knowing when, makes us spiritual long-distance runners with hope.
Why is the Lord Jesus looking to the future?
He has turned His back on the temple leadership who turned their backs on Him.
Jesus sees what they cannot see. Jesus sees what was within the temple - the decay of the proud, selfish, stubborn leaders.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
As soon as the disciples left the temple they forgot the hypocrites within and were dazzled by the marble without.
And He said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down."
Understanding will then begin the sermon, or rather, look out for those who can lead you astray.
Man in his pomp, yet without understanding,
Is like the beasts that perish.
The destruction of the temple does not mean that God has no temple, or no presence of indwelling in our age. Quite the contrary.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
The Lord wants us to know the what future, just not the when. Until it comes, He wants us to be faithful and alert. And to stay alert for long periods of time demands endurance.
Endurance: a key character of living in this age.
Endurance: the ability to trust God and obey His Word over the long haul despite circumstances.
And in this case the circumstances are going to be difficult at times.
Not yet the end:
Spiritual trouble: false teachers and their teachings (vv. 4-5).
Social trouble: wars and disasters (vv. 6-8).
The first mention of difficulty are tricks designed to lead people astray.
And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. 5 "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.
“See to it” is just like our “Watch out.” The present tense tells us to always be on the look out, indicating not only that the church will be perpetually besieged by false end-time teachers but also that their influence will usually be so subtle that the church’s vigilance will have to constant.
The verb “misleads you” means to lead someone astray.
“Those that are most inquisitive concerning the secret things which belong not to them are most easily imposed upon by seducers.” [Henry]
“I am the Christ” or I am like Him - my own authority.
We have seen a legion of are those who say that they are Christ’s representatives or apostles when they are not.
Claim a deep knowledge of what they cannot know.
They come in His name and claiming to know Him deeper than most everyone they lack humility and understanding.
Therefore, the first thing Jesus warns them about as He looks to the future is theological sanity - do not be tricked.
Conclusion:
The Lord Jesus therefore first prepares you for a life that will have to wade through difficulty and trouble while staying faithful to the life He is going to bless you with.
You should ever be ignorant of the blessings, the life, and how they came to be given to you. Christ accomplished them. But the world that rejected Him would only produce trouble, and a lot of it. Will He come soon?
He wants us to be endurance runners who know how very important this race is and to run with the energy that comes from knowing what is at the end - precious and energy giving hope. And to know that every step of this race only adds to His glory.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
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