He Knows how to Deliver

Scripture

Genesis 6:1–8 NKJV

1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Prayer

Text

Luke 17:22–37 NKJV

22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. 36 Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.” 37 And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?” So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

Sermon

Jesus had just taught the Pharisees that the kingdom was not the kind of kingdom they were expecting, nor was the king the kind of king they were expecting.

But in verse 22, he turns to his disciples and directs his remarks to them.

Remember that he is talking to his disciples. He teaches them and instructs them as loved children. He is going to the cross for them because of his great love for them, so now he is giving them courage and comfort for the days ahead.

He says to all of us - the disciples of Jesus - the days are coming when we will long to see the days of the son of man.

The son of man refers to this prophecy in Daniel.

Daniel 7:9–14 NKJV

9 “I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire; 10 A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened. 11 “I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. 13 “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.

Notice several features - first, the prophecy is given to comfort the afflicted faithful. They are crushed under the weight of the beast speaking pompous words and threatening them, and then the Son of Man descends bringing a new kind of kingdom, which will never be destroyed.

This is tremendous comfort for the downtrodden faithful!

And Jesus tells his disciples - that longing is going to be powerful, waiting for that day.

Especially when things are very very dark. Jesus knows his church will be going through the same kinds of things as in the days of Daniel. When the power is too great. When the ones with the pitchforks and torches are winning. And since the days that Jesus has spoken those words, there have been many, many dark days in the history of the church.

And one thing that always happens in those dark days is that someone will always say, “I know when Jesus is coming again. Here. Or there. Look. We are building the kingdom here and there will be no more hunger or thirst, everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree.”

And when things are hard and we are fearful, we are susceptible. So many follow after those who say, “Here is the kingdom! There is the kingdom!”

But Jesus gives us a warning. “Don’t believe them. Don’t follow them.”

Why? Because when the Son of Man is revealed, it will be obvious for everyone.

The false prophet

You won’t need someone to tell you that “this is the kingdom” because when the king returns, it won’t be in secret. It will be like lightening flashing across the sky and lighting up the world.

The scripture simply does not teach a secret rapture.

So what about this idea that we build the kingdom here through our child-bearing or out efforts or politics?

Jesus said, Don’t believe them. When it is the kingdom and it is time, you won’t need to convince anyone of it. Everyone will know, for they shall see the Son of Man descending.

But first - he must suffer. He must be rejected. He must conquer death and draw all nations to himself through the proclamation of the gospel.

A kingdom requires a king, a land, and a people. The king has ascended, and now he is pouring out his spirit on the world and gathering them to himself into one fold.

We speak of the kingdom as “already” - meaning that the sting of death has been taken away, and the one with the power of death has been destroyed. We now are no longer under the bondage of the curse. We have been set free.

Jesus is heading to Jerusalem. He again tells his disciples what is coming. At no time will he lose control of the situation. He MUST suffer many things. It is God’s way for the kingdom of death and misery to be destroyed. Glory comes through suffering, never through power. Jesus goes to the cross, and death is conquered.

When Jesus rose from the dead, the kingdom was inaugurated - it is already.

And yet, it is not yet. It is the “not yet” part that Jesus is speaking of now. We pray, “Thy kingdom come” and the scripture teaches us that the kingdom grows in increments, and never the way we think it will, for it is in the hearts and minds of God’s people, as the gospel is proclaimed.

And the full revelation of that kingdom will not come until the “days of the Son of Man” - when he descends with the angels of glory to judge the living and the dead.

We get impatient and want to hurry things along. We want to bring the kingdom in by force. We want the followers and the power and the leadership - and build our vision of the kingdom. We want strong government to reward friends and punish enemies, and when we see glimpses of power, or the false prophets start seducing, we are tired of hurting, so we want to see hope in them...

Jesus says to his disciples - Not yet. Don’t believe them. They have an agenda. We trust, we wait, we serve, we love. The kingdom is not like an earthly kingdom. Like Jesus, we suffer before we enter glory. We suffer, before we are revealed as who we really are.

We call the world to believe the gospel. But the manifestation of the kingdom is not yet.

When the kingdom is finally revealed, when the Son of Man returns in clouds of glory, there won’t be anyone - not even one person - that will need to be convinced that this is “kingdom activity.”

They will all see. They will all know.

But what help is that when the world is falling apart? When the attacks are strong and it appears as if we are losing? How can we just be patient and wait, when it seems like he isn’t listening?

He gives us two examples. Noah and Lot.

In both examples, the point isn’t “Hey, you better repent before judgment comes.”

Although that is true, that isn’t what Jesus is saying here. He is speaking to his disciples. Those for whom he is about to die. They are safe in his hands.

The one who died for us is the same one coming in judgment. We don’t have to fear that we will somehow miss the mark for we are safe in his arms.

In the account of Lot- Lot, as messed up as he was, was under the protection of Jehovah. And he was in trouble. The whole city was ready to destroy them all in the ugliest way possible. They were bursting through the door to brutalize the men and dominate them, And then - God knew how to save Lot. He struck them with blindness, took Lot away, and fire came down and destroyed the city.

2 Peter 2:4–9 NKJV

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,

When we become afraid of the wicked, we become vulnerable to the allure of the false prophet. But Jesus gives a better way -

Remember Noah? Remember Lot? Remember God’s judgment?

God knows how to deliver the righteous. God knows how to judge the wicked. And he will do it perfectly, and without warning, in HIS time.

God knows how to deliver

The wicked in the days of Noah went on with their lives, mocking the weird man building an ark. Continuing in their unimaginable wickedness, unchecked - doing as they pleased and figuring that everything would go like it always did.

And then, one day, it was not the same.

They woke up one morning, ate their breakfast, walked to work, maybe went to a wedding, maybe planted some trees and put a row of chickpeas in the ground, weeded the cucumbers, checked the olive trees...

In Sodom, Those men were out for a bit of fun. They didn’t want to be too late, they had work the next day - but here were some strangers. It is important to make sure that they know who runs things around here. Maybe they are spies. We better go take care of that.

Joe, did you hear about Lot. Let’s go check it out. C’mon Bill. Work will still be there in the morning.

But those men of Sodom didn’t have the next morning. the men of Noah’s day didn’t have the next morning.

They were alive the day they died - to quote Five for Fighting

But here is something beautiful to ponder - Lot didn’t either. Neither did Noah. He didn’t have to spend one more day with those miserable, horrible, lying, cruel, brutal, destructive, oppressing people.

God knew how to deliver them.

That’s the point of Jesus’ teaching. There will be suffering. Jesus suffered before glory and so will his disciples.

But wait. Be patient. Do good to all. Don’t fret because of evil doers. Put aside thoughts of vengeance. Pray for those who are building your gallows and rejoicing in your pain and vulnerability. Why?

Because God knows how to deliver - and he will.

And I know that for some this is a comfort. And for some, they respond with “I hope so”

Because all that they know in this life is pain, rejection and sorrow.

A few centuries later, a town in Benjamin repeated the scene in Sodom almost exactly - only this time there was no angel to blind the eyes. This time there was no miraculous rescue and no fire coming down from heaven.

Did God forget the woman on the threshold? Why did he save Lot and not her?

I can’t answer that. I don’t know why so many suffer so many things.

But I know this. God knows how to make it right and he will. He knows how to raise the dead, and when the Son of Man comes on the clouds of glory, the woman on the threshold will be glorious, beautiful and terrible to behold for those who killed her. When she also is revealed in power in the days of the Son of Man. And when she stands with the Son of Man, the wicked world will tremble and call on the hills to fall on them.

I know that. And there is so, so much more that I don’t know.

Sometimes we have to be patient with the unresolved things in our own hearts, and rest in knowing that God knows how to deliver the righteous and judge the wicked. And he is able, and he is willing. And he will.

But in the process he won’t lose on of his own, and his work will be perfect.

Lot’s wife

In verse 31, he repeats what is recorded in Matthew and Mark. But in the context of those passages, he is speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem. If you want to live, he says, you have to leave everything behind and go.

In our text, the context isn’t the destruction of Jerusalem, but the second coming.

But the doctrine is the same. If you want to live, you have to leave everything behind and go.

And here, he illustrates his point with Lot’s wife. She loved the things of the world. Her home in Sodom. Her friends. Her things. Her security. Her future in Sodom. It wasn’t that she happened to glance back. It is that she chose in her heart the things of the world rather than the deliverance of God from the destruction to come.

We mourn loss. That is human. That isn’t what is condemned here.

The idea is this - there is a day that is coming when all wickedness and everything on this earth that we put so much hope in, will be burned with fervent heat and destroyed

But as the disciples of Christ, remember that God knows his own and knows how to deliver. And when we are taken and meet him in the air, this world and all of its glory will fade to nothing in our eyes. We will wonder why we put so much of our contentment onto those thing, when the tremendous treasure awaits us OUTSIDE of Sodom

For God knows how to save. He knows the longing of our hearts and he knows what we are seeking and he knows how to satisfy that thirst.

And the devil will continually tempt is in this life. “He doesn’t know. He won’t reward. You’ll lose everything. And then he’ll turn his back.”

Lot, you aren’t going anywhere special. Mrs. Lot, look at everything you have to give up. It won’t be worth it. Head back.

Israel, Moses just brought you out here to die. Head back to Egypt. At least you know where the water was there.

We are terrified of being free, even while we hate being in bondage. Homer Simpson wouldn’t let go of the candy in the machine and so he stayed locked there, unable to be free.

This is what Jesus is saying - you hold on to all of those things that hold you in bondage - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - and you’ll lose it all.

Remember Lot’s wife.

One Taken

And one more - speaking of mysteries. I have many commentaries. There are two from Reformed writers that are almost identical, both with the same perspective, covenantal, not dispensational in their outlook, both with the same confessional background.

One says, It is clear from 1 Thessalonians 4:17

1 Thessalonians 4:17 NKJV

17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

that the ones left behind are the unbelievers while the righteous meet the Lord in the air.

The other says, it is clear from 1 Thess. 4:17 that the ones left behind are the believers, since that verse says that the believers are those who remain.

In other words, it isn’t clear at all who the one taken is and who is the one left behind.

We know, from the rest of the text, that he isn’t talking about a secret rapture, for the day of the son of man is not secret. Nor does this text imply two different second comings. The point is this:

God knows the difference between his seed and the seed of the serpent. He knows how to save the righteous and judge the wicked, and he knows the difference between the two. He will separate, he will divide the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the chaff.

In John’s parable, the wheat is gathered into the barn and the chaff blown away. In Jesus parable, the tares are gathered first, and then the wheat. The point is not the order of things. That will remain a mystery. It is this - there will be a separation, and God knows how to do it, so that not one of his sheep is lost.

Safety will not be found by proximity. You must flee to safety yourself. No one can do it for you.

There isn’t a secret society, or magic words, or rituals or works that must be completed to be safe.

Only one thing. Scripture says this, and it cannot be broken.

Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Romans 10:9–13 NKJV

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord - that is, Jesus. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The great Hashem - the name, above every name. He is the Lord and there is no other.

And what did he say: whoever comes to me, I will never, ever cast out.

All of us our dead in our sins. We all are separated from God and are as decaying corpses, unless he raises us from the dead.

And where the body is, the vulture of judgment is coming. Judgment will root out and find death and all who carry it and will cast it out into unquenchable fire. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God for judgment.

But whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Forget everything else for a moment. Forget your accomplishments, your pedigree, your work, your organization, your memberships, your goals, your dreams, your loves, your hatreds, your families - there is only one thing before you now.

Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.

And when you do, rest. In resting, we learn to love. Don’t fear the ungodly, even when you mourn the damage they leave behind. When you learn not to fear, you will learn compassion, for nothing will take you from the hands of God.

Don’t fear that you missed the notification about the kingdom, because no one will miss it.

Be patient with yourself and others and wait for the Lord.

And remember and hold to this promise - whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.