Because Lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold

Good morning. It's good to be here and see so many faces that I recognize. We're living in a crazy time right now, and there are a lot of things going on in our world. And so the passage that I chose today has to do with how Christians are to respond when things are bad and how we should not respond. And so if you would please turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 24. We'll be focusing mainly on verses 12 and 13, but I'd like to read from the beginning of the chapter for us to get some context. Would you please stand as we read God's word? Matthew 24, 1 to 13. Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when his disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to him. 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. 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? And Jesus answered and said to them, See to it that no one misleads you, for many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place. But that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. At that time, many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.

Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. Matthew 24 is one of those difficult passages because we have a hard time knowing what to do with it. Because we're not sure when the end of the age or the birth pangs or the tribulation is. And you have probably all heard many different theories about that. We don't know if this is talking about past, present, future. There are some people who believe that it is talking about something that's way, way, way...

In the future, we don't need to think about it. There's other people who are like, get ready for the rapture, go to the roof of your house and wait. And there's other people say, no, this was talking about back in 70 AD, the destruction of Jerusalem. That's what I believe. And if you would like to, we can talk about it more after the service. But my goal this morning is not to convince you of one school of eschatology versus another. The important question to ask is, how do we apply passages like this when we get here? So, first of all, and there won't be a second of all, just first, most importantly, whatever your position is, and you should have one, whatever your position is, know that these passages are relevant and applicable for today.

When we read passages like this, we don't get to just shrug our shoulders and say, well, I'm not sure, nobody knows, and so I don't have to think about how it applies. All scripture is profitable. And even if it's referring to a specific time, the general truths that it contains are still applicable to us today. And so let's take a look at verse 12. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. I cannot think of a better description of our time than that verse. Matthew Henry says, though the world always lies in wickedness, right? It's always been bad. Yet there are some times in which it may be said that iniquity doth in a special manner abound. As when it is more extensive than ordinary, as in the old world, when all flesh had corrupted their way.

And it was more excessive than ordinary. So back in the days of Noah, right, God wiped out the entire earth because the level of wickedness had risen to a certain point. When all flesh had corrupted their way and when it is more excessive than ordinary, when violence has risen up to a rod of wickedness so that hell seems to be broke loose in blasphemies against God and enmities to the saints. I was... I was born in the late 80s in San Francisco. And in just around the 30 years or so that I've been around, there's been an undeniable increase in lawlessness and a sharp decline in the morality and religion in America, vital heart religion in America. I'm not talking about lawlessness in terms of like increase in crime or...

or violation of the law because even the law itself has deviated from the laws of god which reflects this this departure from god's law reflects a lawlessness of the people of the land of us homosexuality used to be something that um that nobody really talked about when i was a kid and when you did there was kind of a sense that you were talking about something weird or out there. But today, gay is just run of the mill. It's kind of a yesterday thing. It's kind of a boring thing to talk about. The popular thing today, and I've seen this shift, is toward trans now. And so we have Obergefell, and then we have back in June, the Supreme Court decision that forced employers to embrace the sexual perversion of their employees. And then there's BLM. If you look at BLM's website, it's not really about racial equality. It says that they're trying to dismantle cisgender privilege and free ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking. And all the while, we, the conservative, reformed church in America, are trying our best.

to look reasonable to the world around us, trying to live in that sweet spot between worldliness and faithfulness. This is the state of our country today. This is the state of the world that we live in. We really do live in a lawless time, and America is a post-Christian pagan nation. So Jesus' warning here applies to us today. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. So what's the connection? What is the connection between lawlessness and a decline or a cooling off of love? Well, most basically, if the law of God is summarized as love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself, and if that love is the chief mark of a Christian, then a departure from the law also means a departure from that love. And if you look around, the lack of love is evident, right? There's a lot of talk about love and acceptance, but there is no love as God defines it. There is only self-love. We are a narcissistic generation. How many of you guys watch YouTube from time to time? You guys have all seen the ads in front, right?

Recently, I saw one that almost kicked it over. Recently, I saw an ad for a jaw exerciser. How many of you have seen that one? It's like this rubber ring that you put in your mouth and you've got to exert 40 pounds of pressure to chew on this thing. And the goal is you exercise every other muscle in your body. Why not exercise your facial muscles too? It increases blood flow and... makes your face look more toned, right? So I was sharing about this verse I had shared as a devotional in an elders meeting at church, and I mentioned this ad. And as we were in that circle, my phone buzzed. And I looked at it, and it was Pastor Jake Mentzel sitting over there texting me. He said, you know those ads are targeted for you, right? You know YouTube knows what you are.

And so there's that. Self-love. This is the world we live in today. But who is this passage talking to and who is this warning directed at? Is it the world? No. It's to Christians. When Jesus issued this warning about love growing cold, he's talking to people who had love to begin with at some point. He's talking about Christians. He's talking about us. As lawlessness increases, the love of many Christians will grow cold. As the world around us grows increasingly wicked, it is easy for our love for God and one another to grow cold. But how exactly does that happen? Well, an example is kind of like a hot cup of tea.

If you pour boiling water into a cup, it stays hot for a while at room temperature. But what if it's a bitter, cold winter day and you take that cup outside? It's just a few minutes before that cup becomes cold. And so it is with us. We're the same way. The more extreme the godlessness in the world around us, the more quickly and the more easily we adapt to it. The things that used to shock us lose their shock value because we're inundated with it. And then we begin to think and act and speak like the world around us, like the world light. A little bit less extreme, but pretty worldly still. Just look at the things that we feed ourselves with. Look at the things that we watch on Netflix and YouTube.

and read on Facebook. Can you imagine if one of the early church fathers or apostles were to sit with us in our living rooms and watch the things we watch on Netflix and see the ads we see, see the things that we find and seek out for ourselves on Facebook, all that garbage? Another way that we, so that's one way we get cold, is that we just kind of acclimate to the climate. around us. Another way that we get cold is because we get weary. We get weary and we despair and we get worn down because it seems like our godliness isn't doing much. It's not doing anything to make a change. And so after standing strong for a while, we become calloused to the wickedness around us and we become cynical about it.

And the way that I see this come out a lot is on Facebook. You know, we post these articles by Babylon Bee or put up some stupid little meme, you know, snarky little meme, and we think we're taking a stand for truth, you know, and we begin to enjoy conversations about, yeah, crazy world, isn't it? And we just kind of laugh. at the world while it crashes and burns around us. This has no resemblance to Jesus who grieved and wept for the wickedness of Jerusalem or the Apostle Paul when he went into Athens and he saw the idolatry around him and he was vexed and distraught in his spirit. Sometimes we just withdraw. If the world is like that, then I'm just gonna...

hunker down and live my own private life and have nothing to do with anything. And other times, our love grows cold because we look at the wickedness of the world and we use it to justify our own lusts and our own pleasures. And we say, well, at least my desires, at least my temptations are heterosexual lusts. We don't go quite as far as the world in terms of its. but we're happy to stop just short of it. And so as the world gets hotter and hotter in its pursuit of its lawlessness and lust, the love of us Christians gets colder and colder. We're carried away with the cares of the world and with the various lusts within our own hearts that resonate with the lawlessness of the world. I'm afraid that for many of us in this room, Being cold in our love is already the norm, is already the default. Do you find yourself cold? I know I do. Lovelessness is common, but it is not to be taken for the norm for the Christian. Seasons of spiritual depression and low points, yes. But a life characterized by cold, apathetic lack of love.

is dangerous, and we should not accept it as normative. Listen to what Jesus says about the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2. I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance. It's good, right? And that you cannot tolerate evil men. And you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not. And you found them to be false. And you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake and have not grown weary. That's a pretty good endorsement for a church, right? Wouldn't you want to be a church like that where Jesus came to you and said, I know you work hard and you toil and you persevere through suffering. And you endure for my name.

and you have discernment. You know right doctrine, and you've got a clear understanding of the teaching of Scripture, and you hold people accountable for that. That's wonderful, right? But even with all of these good things in place, there was still one thing that was seriously wrong. Not just a little area of improvement. There was one thing that was so wrong about this church in Ephesus. That if they did not fix it, if they did not repent from it, Jesus says, I will take your lampstand away. I will remove my presence from your church, and you will no longer be a church. You will no longer have pastors. You will no longer have the preaching of the word. You will no longer have fellowship. It will be gone. Does anyone know what that one thing was? What was wrong with that church, despite all these good things? But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

Therefore, remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. What do we learn from this? What do we learn from this? Love for God is something that Jesus cares about, that he takes seriously. Remember when Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. What does this statement assume? If you love me, you will keep my command. It assumes that all of us Christians at least make a claim to love Jesus. It assumes that all of us are concerned to be found as one who loves Jesus. It assumes that we aspire to love Jesus. But for many of us, it's not even a motivator.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. It's not even a motivator because it doesn't compute. It's like, oh, well, I don't love Jesus, so you understand? It's like we're not even concerned whether we belong to those who love Jesus or not. When I was growing up, something that I heard often in the church, when you would commend or praise a young man or woman, people would say, oh, this person really... loves the Lord right don't hear that as much often I don't know why maybe it's because we've become cynical about it or but really that's a good thing to be called somebody who loves God it's basically to be called a Christian right we we need to learn what it is to love God again we need to learn what it is to love Jesus so What does it mean for us to love the Lord? What does it mean? What does it look like? Yes, to keep his commandments, right? He just said, if you love me, keep my commandments. But what are his commandments? Well, they could be summarized to love the Lord your God and your neighbor. So the obedience to God's commands are the proof of our love for him. But what is that love? What actually is...

that love for God that happens at the heart level. What does he require of us in that regard? Well, we all know what it means to love because there are people that we love. And there's different types of people that we love. We have one type of love for our children, one type of love for our husband or wives, one type of love for our parents, another type of love for friends, teachers, there's different types of love. There are people that we really do love, and I want you to think about that person that you love more than anybody else. Think about the person that you love and that you trust, and that you're willing to be the most vulnerable and open to. Okay, everybody have somebody in mind? Now, think about it. What is it about that person that you love so much? Maybe it's the fact that they love you first. Maybe it's...

that they're trustworthy. Maybe it's that they understand you. Maybe it's that they're patient, kind, a good listener. Maybe it's that when you're around them, you just feel safe because of how strong they are. Maybe they're reliable. Maybe they're wise. They're thoughtful. Now, take all of these things about that person that you love so much and multiply by infinity. And that's who God is. God is perfectly and infinitely loving, wise, generous, patient, kind, mighty, true, faithful, just. And now think of the ways that God has dealt with each one of us personally. Think of the comfort that he brings to us and the rich. blessings that he brings to us. Let's just start really small. So it's getting close to lunchtime. How many of you guys are starting to get hungry? All the kids raise their hands. On the way here, I saw church's chicken. And I don't know about you, but I think fried chicken is amazing. And think about this. God did not have to make fried chicken taste good.

He did not have to make food taste good, but he chose to make all sorts of different delicious foods. I mean, he could have just, horrible movie, The Matrix, right? Remember, they're eating this kind of like oatmeal stuff. It was the same for, God could have done that to meet our caloric needs, but he chose to make a variety, bountiful types of food for us to Not just eat, but scripture says to enjoy. Thanks. So we may not think of food as the pagans do. We must think of food as Christians and give thanks to God for taste and taste buds. And not only food, but hot showers, sunsets, music, the ability to enjoy beauty. These are all things that God did just because he loves us.

And wants to give these good things to us. And because he is generous. Now I want to stop for a second. Some of you have lived very hard lives. And been through hard things and suffered a lot. And to you I would say that God is wise and good in his reasons for your suffering. And his... He's wise and good and his reasons for your suffering are also wise and good. And one of the reasons that he gave those sufferings to you is so that you would seek comfort in him and so that you would be able to help others who are suffering. And so your suffering is not a waste and it is a precious gift of God. God has blessed you who have suffered and blessed us through you beyond measure.

And most importantly, God has given us his son, Jesus. So as a Christian, we are people who see God for who he is and that he is glorious and holy and beautiful and worthy of our love and who see who we are in relation to him. Guilty, debtors, deserving punishment. And when you hear that God loves you, when you hear that God loves you personally, and gave you his son to die to forgive your sins and to reconcile you to himself as his adopted child so that you could spend eternity with him because he delights in you and allowed you to be a part of the praise of his glory. When you hear that, you're just filled with gratitude for what he's done. And no request is too big. No request seems unreasonable.

For you to follow him. And so that's what it means to love God at the most fundamental, basic level. Brothers and sisters, Jesus did not come into this world to die for us so that we could follow him with a cool, cold, laid-back love. If someone were to question your love for Jesus, that should break your heart. You remember when Jesus asked Peter three times? Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Peter's response was he cried because Jesus would question his love for Jesus, for him. He cried because he did love the Lord, and it grieved him. And so my question to you, to us this morning, is do you love Jesus? Do you love the Lord? Let's do a little heart check. When you read about Jesus in the Bible, When you see him opening the eyes of the blind, when you see him preaching, when you see him fighting the Pharisees, does your heart long for him? Does your heart long to be near him, to hear his voice? Or is it, I've heard that before. Here's another test. Do you love the things that God loves? The things that are dear to God, are they dear to you? The people that God loves?

Do you have love for your brothers and sisters here in this church? Do you have love for the lost? Do you look at the men and the women around you with compassion? Are you grieved by the things that grieve him? When you sin against him, does it make you sad? Are you ever sad at the things that he's sad at? When was the last time we were sad about anything? I feel like so many of us just live today in this kind of stream. like Pastor Dave was saying, of news and social media. We don't even have time to, like, be alive here right now. We're just like an engine that keeps running and running and running, and we forget our wife, we forget our children, we forget our husband. I've only been married for less, I think, less than two years, and already I can see the way that my speech has changed towards my wife.

You know, it used to be, oh, yes, yes, honey, you know? And now it's, uh, uh, yeah, uh, uh, yeah. This is serious. It's, you know, looking at my cell phone while she's talking to me, right? Yeah, yeah, uh-huh. Wait, what? We're living in a constant stream of stuff, and so we don't have time to love Jesus. We don't have time to love anybody. Ask yourself, oh, one more thing. you know, do you love the things he loves? Do you grieve at the things he's grieved at? And are you angry at the things that he's angry at? We know that Jesus loved God because he cleansed the temple. Do you ever have any anger, righteous anger, over things that are unjust, over the wickedness that is oppressing the righteous? Ask yourself why you do the things that you do. Why do you serve the church?

Why do you serve on the sound team? Why do you preach? Why do you lead Bible study? You can speak out against the sins of the culture all you want on Facebook. You can even be the most evangelistic person. You can be bringing people to church left and right. But if it's not from love for God, it's useless. It's a clanging cymbal. And it is not worth anything. Just a couple more things and then I'll be done. Ask yourself why you do the things you do and examine yourself. Do not compare yourself to the people around you. Do not compare yourself to the people around you as your basis for evaluating yourself. That's a bad standard. That's a terrible standard. Ask yourself if your love for God has grown cold or not.

And so what should we do? Here we are. What should we do? How do we prevent our love from growing cold in this evil day? A couple of things. First, spend time with people who love God. Spend time with them. We need, you know, I know I just said that don't compare yourself to the people around you, but you do know that there are people who love God more than you do. Spend time with them. We need constant reality checks in this world. And we need to remind each other that we don't belong to this world. Second of all, you need to set aside time to pray and read the Bible. You guys all know that song, read your Bible, pray every day. It's true. And it's hard. I don't know about you guys, but I struggle with that. But we need to do it.

We make time for everything else. We make time for the things that we want to do, and we need to make time to be alone with God. Jesus himself had to go by himself early in the morning, late at night, to be with his Father. We need to get serious about holiness. We talk about the lawlessness increasing in the world, but we need to guard against the lawlessness that is in our own hearts, which longs to go after the world. And we need to get serious about it. And last of all, we need to cry out to God and confess our coldness of love to him. We need to ask him to give us a heart that loves him. And not just a little. We need to ask him to give us a consuming love for him. And we need hearts that feel the things he feels, hates the things he hates, loves the things he loves. And keep asking.

Keep asking. God will not refuse the prayer of someone who asks for him to increase love for him. He will not. So keep asking. Let's pray.