Mark 13:14-23 (NASB)

14 “But when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be (let the reader understand ), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 15 “The one who is on the housetop must not go down, or go in to get anything out of his house; 16 and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat. 17 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 18 “But pray that it may not happen in the winter. 19 “For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will. 20 “Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days. 21 “And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ ‘; or, ‘Behold, He is there ‘; do not believe him; 22 for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 “But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.

Part 2 (This Sermon): The Awfully Great Tribulation

Sermon Theme: Believers are exhorted to always be prepared for the Lord’s return, preserving in faith and faithfulness to the end.

Outline:

1) The Awfully Great Tribulation
2) The Abomination of Desolation

Future Sermons in this Series:
Parts 3a & 3b: The Second Coming is Coming
Part 5: Eschatology Excursive

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Mark 13:1-13 (NASB)

1 As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.” 3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 6 “Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and will mislead many. 7 “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. 8 “For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 “But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. 10 “The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. 11 “When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. 12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 13 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

Part 1 (This Sermon): The Beginning of the End (13:1-13)

Sermon Theme: Believers are Exhorted to be Prepared

Outline:
1) The Destruction of the Temple (13:1-3)
2) The Disciples’ Questions (13:3-5)
3) The King Foretells the Future (13:6-13)

Future Sermons in this Series:
Part 2: The Awfully Great Tribulation (13:14-23)
Parts3a & 3b: The Second Coming is Coming (13:24-27)
Part 5: Eschatology Excursive

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Mark 12:41-44 (NASB)

41 And Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and began watching how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large amounts. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two lepta coins, which amount to a quadrans. 43 Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”

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Mark 12:35-40 (NASB)

35 And Jesus responded and began saying, as He taught in the temple area, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself said in the Holy Spirit,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Until I put Your enemies under Your feet.”’

37 David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” And the large crowd enjoyed listening to Him.

38 And in His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like personal greetings in the marketplaces, 39 and seats of honor in the synagogues, and places of honor at banquets, 40 who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive all the more condemnation.”

Sermon Theme/Outline: Christians must heed Jesus’ correction of false theology and His warning about false teachers.

1. Be careful of false theology (12:35-37)

2. Beware of faulty character (12:38-40)

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Mark 12:28-34 (NASB)

28 One of the scribes came up and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no other besides Him; 33 and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And then, no one dared any longer to question Him.

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Mark 12:13-17 (NASB)

¹³ Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. ¹⁴ They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? ¹⁵ “Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” ¹⁶ They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him.

Sermon Theme/Outline: Believers in Jesus Christ must avoid hypocrisy, yield to government’s authority and yield to God above all.

1) Believers must avoid the wicked sin of religious hypocrisy (12:13‑15)
2) Believers must submit to Government (12:16‑17)
3) Believers must submit to God above all (12:17)

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Mark 12:1-12 (NASB)

¹ And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.  ² “At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. ³ “They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ “Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. ⁵ “And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. ⁶ “He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ “But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ “They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ “What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ “Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; ¹¹ THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES ‘?” ¹² And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.

Sermon Theme: Those who refuse to acknowledge and embrace Jesus’ authority over their lives will be silenced, exposed and put to shame.

Outline: Rejecters of Jesus’ Authority are Exposed and Put to Shame

1) Through God’s goodness (12:1)
2) Through God’s grace (12:2-8)
3) Through God’s justice (12:9)
4) Through God’s glory (12:10-12)

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Mark 11:27-33) NASB

²⁷ They came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, ²⁸ and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” ²⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ “Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” ³¹ They began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why * did you not believe him?’ ³² “But shall we say, ‘From men ‘?”-they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. ³³ Answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Theme: Those who refuse to acknowledge and embrace Jesus’ authority over their lives will be silenced, exposed, and put to shame.

Outline: Rejecters of Jesus’ Authority are Silenced

1) Unbelievers challenge the Lord’s authority (27-28)
2) The Lord asserts His authority (29, 30b)
3) The Lord challenges unbelievers’ beliefs (30a-33a)
4) The Lord is the final authority (33b)

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Mark 11:22-26 (NASB)

²² And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. ²³ “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. ²⁴ “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. ²⁵ “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. ²⁶ [“But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”]

Theme: Jesus wants us to truly trust in God, coming clean to Him as we pray for our many needs in life.

Outline: Three Essential Elements of Effective Prayer

1) True Belief in the one true God (11:22)
2) A trusting, believing heart (11:23-24)
3) A truly forgiving heart attitude (11:25-26)

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