Inner Calm in the Inevitable Whirlwind of Life (Matthew 24:9-14).Sunday November 30, 2025
Main idea: Despite the trouble that is caused in the world by sinful men, the Lord Jesus commands us not to be troubled.
Intro:
The inter-advent period is the time between His first coming and His second coming and this would include the church age and the tribulation period.
All of the things the Lord describes in vv. 4-31 will happen before the end (second coming of Christ). General trends He reveals in vv. 4-14.
The Lord tells us what our days and future days are going to look like until the “end,” until He comes (Read Mat 24:4-14), and He also tells us our assignments (can you spot them?).
Mat 24:4 "See to it that no one misleads you.
Mat 24:6 See that you are not frightened
Not to improve the world.
“See you are not frightened”
Things outside of ourselves have the potential to cause us to be frightened. If we are troubled within, we will not be able to live the life of Christ and we will not be witnesses to all the others (who are troubled).
Our game plan is not to change the world or to know the timing of coming events. It is to not be fooled and to not be filled with turmoil (NASBU: frightened).
Throeo - inwardly aroused, disturbed, frightened. It comes from the word for “tumult” and one dictionary defines it as “making an outcry.” I like to think of it as inward trouble or turmoil.
Pro 12:25 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad.
Pro 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Rom 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
The Lord wants you filled with joy, His joy, not just getting by or maintaining a decent reputation.
Mat 24:4-8, We can easily see how inner turmoil or inner trouble would live inside us like a caged animal if we did not know that God controls all history.
Continued trends in the church age and Tribulation:
Mat 24:9 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
Tribulation: trouble that inflicts distress (used 45x in NT - not necessarily a reference to the dispensation Tribulation).
They will deliver you - this is what the disciples can expect. They are called to love their enemies and this is how they will return the favor, i.e. grace given.
“They will kill you …” all except John were martyred, and it did not stop with them.
“Hated by all nations” - the extent of hatred (all nations) will be new to the disciples since Israel’s prophets were localized.
Moving into the Tribulation: At some point in the Tribulation the persecution of the saints will reach a zenith.
Rev 6:9-11 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.
What is seething under the surface in our age is exposed without restraint in the tribulation.
Believers are not to have inner turmoil in either age.
Mat 24:10 "At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.
Now comes apostasy. Many will fall away. The Greek word is skandalizo and it means to stumble.
In order to fall away, they have to be in the group initially.
“Betray” can mean to turn over to arrest. At the least it means that someone who should be trustworthy turns out not to be.
Hate one another.
Pressure shows weak bonds.
Mat 24:11 "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.
False prophets again! They are injected by Satan in every phase of history, like secret agents (parable of wheat and tares).
The devout saints in any age will feel like they are on the losing team. We all have a desire to win and the reality of many falling away and many leading them will be discouraging, or troubling within.
Look at all the “many.” Always in relation to false teaching.
Mat 24:5 many will come in My name
Mat 24:5 will mislead many.
Mat 24:10 many will fall away
Mat 24:11 "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.
The plight of the majority is ignorance.
There are so many manys that there are not many left. Devout Christians, in the end, will be the true minority.
Being in the minority, especially when you see many leaving the church, can cause inner turmoil.
Phi 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Continuing trends of evil:
Mat 24:12 "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.
The lawlessness is good called evil and evil good. The increase is an increase in the number of people calling sin a good thing and throwing off the authority of God. This will greatly increase in the Tribulation.
The love of many will grow cold - only a minority will really love and that is when love is more often heartbreaking.
The “many” lose their care for others, which means it was only an outward form. They never really had charity.
There you have it – the world of mankind, allowed to sin and do evil by God. It is obviously NOT God’s plan to fix it in this age. He is going to make it brand new.
Christ is coming to deliver:
Mat 24:13 "But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
Everything up to this point has been plural. This is a dramatic change. The many manys have been reduced to one.
This is not salvation from sin, but being delivered from the Tribulation by the returning Christ because you are a believer who survived it by the grace of God (Jew or Gentile).
"The salvation referred to here is not eternal salvation but physical deliverance from the trials of the Great Tribulation period. Those who endure to the end of the tribulation are saved in the sense of being kept alive until the coming of Christ in glory." [John Walvoord]
No one can stop the gospel:
Mat 24:14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
The word “preached” is a strong word of a herald. The minority, the not many, have a strong voice.
Shall be preached is another future passive. God is the cause.
The mission in the church and in the Tribulation is missionary and instructional.
In a sea of trouble there is the light of the gospel flowing from the lives of the saved who, with time, have come to know the Lord, their King.
Act 4:31 they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
Conclusion:
Instructions by God: Do not be fooled and do not be frightened.
There is a calm confidence when a believer knows he or she is in the will of God. He is blessed no matter what, and this he knows.
Unlike cold love, the believer is warm.
There is so much loss in the world of mankind. All people are the beneficiaries of the grace of God (common grace) but the “many” lose it by saying “No.”
There is the loss of: Faith (Heresy) Peace (Wars and troubles) Hope (hatred) Loyalty (persecution) [now] Love (lawlessness)
Our inner turmoil can arise not only at the state of evil in the world but also at the waste.
We who are full of joy also live in peace and the many troubled souls look at us as lights of the world, cities on hills shining forth the light of Christ and we witness to them; calling them to the real world of the kingdom of heaven.
We will not change the world at large, not much of it, but we will change some of the people in it.
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