This chapter is much like gold-bearing ore. Quite often where there is gold, there is also silver – a valuable mineral, but not as valuable as gold. When the two are found together, steps have to be taken to separate them for commercial purposes. In the ancient world there were a number of ways to get this done, mostly involving sulfates and acids. Today there are a variety of newer methods, depending on the condition of the raw ore. Chlorination is used in some cases and so is electrolysis. In the world of mining, it is important separate and purify the minerals which God has so graciously given us.
As I say this chapter is much like gold-bearing ore. There are nuggets of gold lessons, but there are also flakes of silver messages. I don’t know that it is important to us to separate them, but some people think so, and perhaps for the sake of clarity it wouldn’t hurt.
This chapter was given to answer the disciples’ questions of verse 3 – “Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” To the mind of the disciples, the destruction of Herod’s temple involved the return of the Messiah, and the end of the world as they understood it. But the destruction of THAT temple took place over 1,900 years ago, and the Saviour has not returned, despite what some silly theologians have said. Obviously, there will be the building of a third temple, and it too will be “destroyed” or “desolated” – just prior to the physical return of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. What will be the sign of end of world? That all depends on which “end of the world” we are talking about.
I think that the gold of this chapter is the return of Christ as ISRAEL’S Messiah. That involves the seven year Tribulation which prepares Israel to receive the Lord. But there many flecks of silver in this ore as well. They may not be as valuable as the gold, but still no one should turn down God’s gift of beautiful silver. And those include lessons about our world and the events which we might witness prior to the Tribulation. There shall be, and are, false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, pestilences and earthquakes. “All these are (only) the beginning of sorrows.” At that point shall far more serious tribulations fall upon humanity, leading up to the Tribulation. Mixed with the Lord’s warnings about the Tribulation, per se, are prophecies about things which we observe in history – and which we hear about in our news-feeds today.
I’d like us to consider the ore of verses 12 and 13 this morning. First, let’s separate the gold, and then we’ll consider the silver. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
We must not forget that the Lord’s primary purpose in this chapter is Israel.
But keep in mind that the first Christians were primarily Israelites.
“When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” The iniquity of both the heathen Amorites and fallen Israel was full – the time for the Saviour had arrived. And we know what happened to Him – we know what those iniquitous people did to the Son of God. Of course, it was all done in the permissive will God and with the direct purpose of providing a divine sacrifice for our sins.
Following the crucifixion of Christ, the wrath of the unbelieving Jews was directed toward His disciples. “Saul (and his cohorts) yet, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” went to the high priest for permission to spread and intensify their attacks upon the people of God. Eventually, along with, the wrath of the Jews, the Romans added their hatred to the mix. As time progressed, and as segments of Christendom apostatized, Satan’s attacks upon the people of Christ became more complicated and multifaceted. “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” There are aspects of these words which apply to Israel, but they also apply to our Christian forefathers – gold and silver in the same ore.
“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” These words supply us with the immediate definition and description of the word “iniquity” in verse 12. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” It refers to a particular variety of “iniquity.” Throughout history – from the days of the Apostles – down to this day – Bible-believing Christians have been attacked and hated for “Christ’s Name’s sake.” Every week I try to share with you some of our Christian history. Time and time again, we have noted the persecution of the Catholics and the Protestants against our spiritual forebears. And then, almost from the year after the death of Christ, there have been false teachers and men who were compromising the truth in order to reach their selfish goals. There have been secular and religious governments which have tried to exterminate Christians in general and Baptists in particular. And throughout history there have been the philosophers and educators, attempting to do the same, in their own particular ways. I am reading a book right now which shows the intellectual conspiracy of evolution – one of the great “iniquities” of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Throughout the centuries, the persecution against the Christian has produced two major effects. Acts 11:19 suggests one of them – because of the persecution of the Jews, the brethren were scattered abroad, “preaching the Word of God.” The “iniquity” of the Jews, intensified, inflamed and encouraged many of the saints in their love and service of Christ. And that same result can be seen in subsequent Baptist history up to this very day.
But the other effect can be seen as well – “the love of many shall wax cold.” Sadly, there have been quitters, apostates and traitors from the beginning of Christianity – just as there have been blazing martyrs. Perhaps many of those who have “turned back” were not really converted in the first place, but that blanket statement can’t be applied to them all. And then there have been the thousands of children, put by God into the hands of Christian mothers and fathers, who refused to follow their parents to Christ and into Heaven. Some of them fell, because they saw their Christian parents hacked to pieces by Muslim swords. Some of them turned away when they were forced to watch their Protestant neighbors drown and burn their loved ones. Some of them simply listened to the iniquitous lies of the philosophers, evolutionists and hedonists.
As I tried to point out last week, from the very beginning, there have been liars, proclaiming to be the returned Christ – and they are still among us today. Some in Israel have followed these Satan-directed deceivers, and many in Christendom have as well. But the best and most successful of these men has yet to be revealed. He will pretend to be Christ, perhaps without calling himself that – but he will actually be the Antichrist. The Antichrist may be living today, lurking in the wings and ready to take center-stage. I can’t tell you if he is or he isn’t, but I am sure that his appearance isn’t far away. And as I say, he will be the most successful of all his iniquitous predecessors – clearly, and openly empowered by Satan. “The love of many will wax cold,” and “he shall deceive (a great) many.”
“But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” One of the common mistakes made in interpreting this chapter is trying to make it directly apply to the Christian. One of the mistakes is to define every word in the context of the Christian. Application is one thing, but interpretation is another. The word “saved” in verse 13 is the one often used to talk about salvation from sin, but that is not it’s only meaning. It speaks of “being delivered” – it could refer to salvation from anything. Daniel was saved from the lions and his friends from the burning fiery furnace. I believe that they were also saved from their sins by the grace of God. Or more specifically, they were saved from the judgment which their sins deserved.
The “salvation” of verse 13 is not salvation from sin as many heretics would like you to believe. The Lord Jesus suggests that endurance to the end produces this salvation. No sir. Eternal salvation is a gift of divine grace apart from any input by you or me. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Salvation from sin is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” No, this salvation refers to some sort of deliverance from the “iniquity” referred to in the context. In some ways it speaks of salvation from Jerusalem in 70 AD when the Romans sacked the city. In some ways it refers to our brethren who suffered persecution from the Christian heretics. But perhaps its primary intention was towards those of Israel who struggle through the Tribulation. Those who make it to the end, shall be delivered and shall enter the Lord’s glorious Millennium.
I believe that is the gold in this ore – now let’s examine some of the silver.
We’ve already done that to some degree in verse 12. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” This is an obvious general principle – one on which every Christian should meditate once in a while.
The word “iniquity” may be a synonym for “sin,” but it is not that common in the New Testament. It is “anomia” (an-om-ee’-ah), and it means – “without law.” By definition “sin” is “the transgression of God’s law” while being “without law” amounts to the same thing. It is perfectly acceptable to paraphrase this to say, “Because sin shall abound, the love of many will fade.”
With that in mind, how many people have WE caused to turn from the Lord, by our iniquities – our sins? Have any of our children stopped serving the Lord, or never began to serve Him, because they saw sins in us, while we professed to serve? How many church members, or church prospects, have we unintentionally driven away through our iniquities? Remember that acquaintance at work, with whom we had some credibility until those ungodly words flew out of our mouths, or our eyes were seen wandering to places they shouldn’t have been.
What acts of iniquity should bring a blush to our faces? As always there is that ever-present pride, lurking just under the surface like a terrible alligator. We are proud of our history – “We are Baptists, and we’ve never persecuted any man.” We are proud of our doctrine – “We are Baptists – we’ve never believed the garbage that he believes.” “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” What are our iniquities? How about permitting our love to wax cold – we actually have some control over that. What are our sins? Prayerlessness? joyless, soul-less worship? lovelessness? Unconcern for the spiritual condition of others? hatred towards people who are different from us? “I’ve never persecuted any man, except that man over there whose sins are different from mine.” It is not my intention this morning to create an itemized list of common Christian sins. It IS my intention to point out that OUR iniquities can poison the hearts of others. “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
And what about verse 13 – are there any silvery principles which we can glean from this? “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Taking it out of its context, and turning it back to front, I believe there is at least one important lesson. Those whom the Lord intends to save spiritually will endure unto the end.
There are two closely linked doctrines which are a great blessing to my soul. I believe in both the human perseverance of the saints and their Divine preservation. The Bible teaches that God’s salvation from sin is a work of His grace, His authority and His power. And so – “We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” “Whosoever believeth on Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that Hew gave His only begotten son, that whosever believeth on Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.” God’s work in salvation from sin is perfect, and not one of the God’s elect will ever be lost.
And a corollary to that point is that they will remain – the people of Christ to the very end. There may be occasions when men like Peter will deny their Lord, but they will repent. They will not profess their Saviour for a few years and then for decades prior to death live in denial. They will not, when in their parent’s house, claim to be Christians, but before their ungodly friends say that Christianity is a religious hoax. Such people were never born again – they don’t possess the nature of Christ. As John says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” Those who are saved shall endure to the end, by the grace of God and by their profession of faith.
Are you one of God’s people, or have you been deceived and continue to be blinded by the world’s iniquity? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”