What Time is It?
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· 5 viewsWe are living in perilous times and the return of Christ can happen at any moment.
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“Watch! Be alert! For you don’t know when the time is coming.
“It is like a man on a journey, who left his house, gave authority to his servants, gave each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to be alert.
Therefore be alert, since you don’t know when the master of the house is coming—whether in the evening or at midnight or at the crowing of the rooster or early in the morning.
Otherwise, when he comes suddenly he might find you sleeping.
And what I say to you, I say to everyone: Be alert!”
Introduction: What time is it? There are many ways that we could answer that question. For example, I can look at my watch and tell you that it is currently ____. The calendar tells me that today is _____ . Pretty soon, many people are going to be asking, when is game time?
My generation knew when it was hammer time thanks to rap music. Today, you might be thinking that the preacher is standing between you and lunch time.
There are certain times of year that we dread to talk about such as tax time. Other times we look forward to like as summer time. My daughter was delighted that Pumpkin Spice Latte time is here.
Time is something that rules our culture. You are expected to be on time for work, or for an appointment. I tell my children that to be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is unacceptable. on the other hand, my family balances that out.
Other cultures are not so much time driven as they are relationship driven. In Africa, the starting time of the Sunday morning worship service is just a suggestion. It’s not that they are being rude, it’s the fact that many of them walk for miles to get to church.
The God we serve is outside of time.
Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
In the thirteenth chapter of Mark, Peter, James, John, and Andrew wanted to know about the time when Jesus would return and establish his kingdom. He didn’t give them a time but rather pointed to what things on earth would be like before that happened. In fact, Jesus said he didn’t know the time - only his Father knew.
Perhaps you have asked, hey if Jesus was God, how did he not know the time? It is because he voluntarily restricted his knowledge of this event in submission to the Father.
Today, we are going to talk about the times in which we are living as we think about the second coming of Christ. As the song says, “It’s closer now than it has ever been.”
Time to Be Wide Awake (vv. 32-33)
Time to Be Wide Awake (vv. 32-33)
There is a danger in being asleep spiritually.
Sampson went to sleep in the lap of Delilah and lost his hair, his strength, and his eyes and he became a slave.
Jonah was asleep in the midst of a terrible storm.
In the parable of the 10 virgins, 5 were asleep when the master came back and they found themselves to be outside of the wedding feast.
Satan would love to lull us into sleep so that we would be unaware of all that is taking place around us. Jesus wants us to be awake - to be alert for when he returns so that we can be ready.
Jesus is saying that we need to notice carefully, to be ready to learn about future dangers. He says that we are to keep awake or to be on guard.
First, he gives us some signs of the times. When we read Mark 13:2-27, it is stunningly obvious that the end is drawing near.
You say, well…haven’t Christians been saying that for years? Hasn’t each generation believed that they too were in the end times?
Yes, but you have to understand that the idea of the end times refers to a particular time period or age and not necessarily a set date.
The end times will be a time of sensuality. Consider how it seems that all forms of sexual perversion are on the table these days. There are at least 81 ways to describe gender in our culture now. Things that used to be criminal are not being presented as good. They tell us that pedophiles should now be called MAPS or Minor Attracted Persons is an example.
The end times will be a time of selfishness and self-centeredness. 2 Timothy 3:2-3 says:
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.
The end times will be a time of stubbornness. Romans 1:21
For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
The end times will be a time of slothfulness. People in our culture don’t want to work anymore and they don’t have to because the government incentivizes them not to work. Proverbs 19:15
Laziness induces deep sleep, and a lazy person will go hungry.
The end times will also be times of sorrow.
There will be a lack of restraint. Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, a do as you please culture.
A lack of respect. People will be lovers of pleasure more than God.
A lack of righteousness. many will have a form of godliness but they will deny its power
Time to be Alert
Time to be Alert
Jesus gives a parable here that compares the end times to the story of a homeowner who left his home to go on a long journey. He gave no indication at all of how long he would be gone or when he would come home. before he left however, he “gave authority to his servants” and work for them to do. He commanded the doorkeeper - the security guard if you please - to be alert for his return.
Therefore be alert, since you don’t know when the master of the house is coming—whether in the evening or at midnight or at the crowing of the rooster or early in the morning.
Of course the master of the house is Jesus. He completed his atoning work here on earth and ascended to heaven where he will sit at the right hand of God until he returns.
Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.
The servants and the doorkeeper are his disciples - not just the 12, but all disciples. It includes you and I. We have been given his authority to manage his affairs while he is away. We have been given a task to do.
And it is necessary that the gospel be preached to all nations.
We are to faithfully watch...
For false teachers and teachings. Mark 13:5-6 “Jesus told them, “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and they will deceive many.”
For conflict between nations. Mark 13:7-8 “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t be alarmed; these things must take place, but it is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.”
For increased persecution. Mark 13:9-13 ““But you, be on your guard! They will hand you over to local courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a witness to them. And it is necessary that the gospel be preached to all nations. So when they arrest you and hand you over, don’t worry beforehand what you will say, but say whatever is given to you at that time, for it isn’t you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of my name, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
For the stage to be set to usher in the Antichrist. The Antichrist is a false messiah who will arrive on the world stage promising peace and safety. He will make a covenant with the nation of Israel only to break that covenant and begin persecuting God’s people. The Bible speaks of a one world government and a one world religion all under the authority of the Antichrist.
For disturbances in the heavens. Mark 13:24-27 ““But in those days, after that tribulation: The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. He will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”
Time to be Active
Time to be Active
Otherwise, when he comes suddenly he might find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to everyone: Be alert!”
If you were to fall asleep as a Roman soldier while on duty, it was dereliction of duty and you could be executed. Polybius in the Rise of the Roman Empire stated: “If the Roman soldier is found guilty (of falling asleep on duty), he is punished by fustuarium. This is carried out as follows. The tribune takes a cudgel and lightly touches the condemned man with it, whereupon all the soldiers fall upon him with clubs and stones, and usually kill him...”
Obviously, this wouldn’t apply to us as Christians but it does demonstrate how serious it is for us to maintain active alertness until Christ returns.
We are to remain faithful toward Christ.
Paul spoke of a man named Demas in his second letter to Timothy.
because Demas has deserted me, since he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
Not only has Demas deserted Paul, the original language in that post implies that he abandoned Paul in his time of need.
He left Paul behind because he fell in love with the world.
You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.
Was Demas a genuine believer in Christ? Only God knows.
Jesus gave us the parable of the sower, When the sower when forth to sow the seed, some of the seed fell among the thorns. Mark 4:18-19
Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
We are to remain fruitful for Christ.
My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.
This verse speaks of being chosen for service. If you are a believer in Christ, you are called by God to bear fruit through serving Him. There are no bench-warmers in the Kingdom.
We are to also remain firm in our stand for Christ.
Illus. The Story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed Nego.
Listen to Paul as he speaks of the firmness of his resolve...
But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.
Contrast that firmness of Paul’s faith with what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:3
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
It is unfortunate that as we draw near to the return of Christ, many will fall away from the faith. But in the end, true believers will be revealed by their falling away. I pray that you find yourself numbered among those who remain firm in faith.