How to Prepare for a Coming King

Lead Vocalist (Kelly)

Welcome & Announcements (Sam)

Good morning family!

Ask guests to fill out connect card

4 announcements:

1) Church Lunch

Next Sunday after the morning worship gathering

Menu: Lasagna & Salad or Hot Dogs and Chips

Cost: $5/person, $3/6-12 years old, $0/0-5 years old

PBC Members—please RSVP (even if NOT coming!)

2) Baptism Sunday, October 15

Please talk to an elder or contact the church office on or before October 8 if you’re interested

3) Trunk or Treat

October 29 from 5-7 PM

Need candy donations!

Need volunteers to decorate cars, greet guests, help with food, safety, parking, and more!

See Tasha Tollison or contact the church office for more details..

4) Ladies Retreat

In Williamsburg, November 3-5

See Kelly Watkins or contact the church office for more details.

Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Psalm 24:7-10)

Prayer of Praise (Judy Johnson)

Bound for Glory

It Is Well

Prayer of Confession (Joey Flowers), Spiritual slumber

Assurance of Pardon (Romans 6:23)

Joy to the World

Ancient of Days

Scripture Reading (Matthew 24:36-25:30)

Pastoral Prayer (Sam)

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

Few things are more frustrating than being told what to do but not how to do it.

When I was about seven years old my mom asked me to boil a dozen eggs. She wanted to make egg salad for lunch for me and my many siblings, and she wasn’t feeling well so she needed my help.

I gladly went into the kitchen, filled a pot with water, and began cracking one egg after another and putting them into the pot of water.

In case you didn’t know, that is not how you boil eggs.

But my mom had told me what to do without telling me how to do it.

In her defense everybody knows how to boil eggs! Everybody except me, apparently.

Thankfully the Bible isn’t like my mom was that day.

No, it doesn’t tell us how to boil eggs (everybody knows how to do that!).

But it does tell us how to be ready for the return of Jesus.

Turn to Matthew 24:36

It’s Tuesday night, just a few days before Jesus’ crucifixion.

Jesus just told His disciples the temple is going to be destroyed.

The disciples then asked Jesus two questions recorded in Matthew 24:3.

Question #1: “when is the temple going to be destroyed?”

Question #2: “when is the world going to end?”

Jesus’ answer to those two questions is recorded in this portion of Matthew’s gospel called the Olivet Discourse.

Remember I said Jesus’ teaching here is like a box of tangled up Christmas lights. There are two strands of prophesies in these chapters, one strand about the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 and the other about the end of the world. And the strands are often so tangled up that it’s hard to tell where one starts and the other one ends.

But I’ve got good news for you this morning! We’re through with the tangled-up portion!

From here on out, virtually everyone agrees that Jesus is talking about His return and the end of the world.

So congratulations, you’re in the homestretch!

The very first lesson we learned in this chapter was Jesus doesn’t tell us when the world ends, but what to expect and how to be ready.

And the disciples have learned all sorts of things about what to expect both in A.D. 70 and at the end of the world.

But we haven’t learned how to be ready.

But don’t worry, Jesus doesn’t only tell us what to do, He shows us how to do it.

That’s the Big Idea I hope to communicate from today’s sermon: Jesus tells us to be ready for His return, and He shows us how to be ready for His return.

So we need to answer two simple questions from our text that make up the outline for today’s sermon:

Why must we be ready for Jesus’ return?

And how can we be ready for Jesus’ return?

1) WHY Must We Be Ready for Jesus’ Return?

In verses 36-44, Jesus answers the why question.

Matthew 24:36—But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

The day and hour Jesus is talking about is the moment of His return.

Jesus says not even He knows when that is going to happen.

But what does that mean?

We need to remember Jesus is one person with two natures: a human nature and a divine nature.

In His divine nature as the eternal Son of God, Jesus knows all things. He is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. He is God!

But Jesus’ human nature is limited, just like ours. He has to learn things. He gets tired. He can only be in one place at a time. He has limited energy. He bleeds. His body can die.

He is not like Clark Kent, pretending to be an ordinary human. He is truly human!

And although Jesus has a special relationship with His Father, His Father has not told Him everything.

In His humanity Jesus doesn’t even know the day of His return.

And if that’s true, you and I certainly don’t know the day of His return.

To illustrate His point, Jesus compares His return to the days of Noah...

Matthew 24:37-41—For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.

Some people use these verses to teach that there is coming a day when people will be secretly raptured. You might come downstairs one day to find a pile of clothes in your dad’s recliner where he used to read his Bible. He’s been taken and you’ve been left behind!

But if you look closely, I don’t think that’s what Jesus is teaching at all.

When the flood came, Noah wasn’t caught off guard but everybody else was!

They were getting married, eating and drinking, working in the fields, and enjoying life when the floods came.

But then Noah and his family were lifted above the earth on an ark. The unbelievers were taken away by water and the world was washed clean. Then Noah and his family were left on a renewed planet.

When Jesus returns, everybody will be caught off guard.

They will be getting married, eating and drinking, working in the fields, and enjoying life when Jesus returns.

But then Jesus’ elect will be lifted up above the earth to meet Jesus. The unbelievers will be taken away by fire and the world will be burned clean. Then Jesus’ family will be left on a new heavens and a new earth.

Jesus’ man point in comparing His return to the days of Noah is not to teach a secret rapture, but to illustrate that nobody knows when He will return.

Instead of trying to figure out when Jesus will return, we need to focus on how to be ready.

Jesus repeats that lesson for us in...

Matthew 24:42-44—Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

One of the things I’ve been doing through our time in the Olivet Discourse is to show you that many of the things we look to as signs that Jesus’ return is coming soon aren’t signs of His return at all!

You’ll know Jesus is coming when you see Him in the sky! That’s pretty much it!

But why has Jesus designed it this way?

Because if we don’t know when Jesus will return we must always be ready!

But HOW are we supposed to do that?

The bulk of our text this morning is devoted to answering that question...

2) HOW Can We Be Ready for Jesus’ Return?

Thankfully Jesus doesn’t leave us to figure that out ourselves. In His mercy, Jesus teaches us how to be ready for His return.

And it all boils down to one thing: we must have true faith!

That may seem overly simple, but it’s not!

In the remainder of our text, Jesus tells three simple parables about His return.

Each story tells about people who are waiting for someone important to return.

In each story, there are some who are ready and some who are not.

And in each story, the difference between being ready or not is a matter of faith.

True faith is like a multi-faceted diamond, and because Jesus wants us to be ready for His return He shows us what our faith needs to look like.

Consider with me first...

A) We Need a Faith That TRUSTS

Jesus’ first parable in verses 45-51 is very straightforward.

A master goes away on a journey. While he’s away, he sets two servants over his household.

The faithful servant does what the master expected of him.

But the wicked servant does not believe his master will return any time soon, so he mistreats his co-workers and gets drunk.

When the master returns he blesses the faithful servant and cuts the wicked servant to pieces.

What's this parable mean?

The master represents Jesus.

The time the master is away represents this life while we await the return of Jesus.

The servant’s job represents the life of obedience Jesus demands.

The faithful servant represents all Christians. These are people with true faith.

The wicked servant represents all unbelievers.

The faithful servant’s reward represents heaven, and the wicked servant’s punishment represents hell.

But what separates the wicked servant from the faithful servant?

On its face, it appears the difference is obedience. One obeys the master and the other doesn’t.

But why does the wicked servant disobey? Because he does not trust his master.

In verse 48, he makes it clear that he does not believe his master is returning soon.

In fact, he trusts his own instincts and desires more than he trusts the word of his master.

The faithful servant trusts his master, while the wicked servant does not.

Trust is more than intellectually saying “I believe something is true.” Trust requires action.

The faithful servant demonstrates he trusts the master by obeying him in his absence.

The wicked servant demonstrates his lack of trust by his failure to obey. He mistreats his neighbors and lives for himself! He acts as if his master will never return, because he does not trust his master.

So what about you? Are you trusting Jesus? Or do you merely believe facts about Jesus?

Perhaps you’re wondering, how do I know?

Consider a story from the life of Charles Blondin, a 19th century acrobat who mesmerized crowds by repeatedly walking across Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

One summer in 1859 he crossed in a sack, once on stilts, another time on a bicycle,  and once he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet!

On July 15 that year, Blondin walked backward across the tightrope to Canada and returned pushing a wheelbarrow.

After pushing the wheelbarrow across while blindfolded, Blondin asked for some audience participation. 

He asked his audience, "Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?"  Of course the crowd shouted, “YES, WE BELIEVE!”

Then Blondin asked, "Who will get in the wheelbarrow?”

Belief says “I know you can do this!” Trust is to get in the wheelbarrow!

So let me ask you again, are you trusting Jesus?

I am not asking if you claim to believe in Him. I am not asking if you profess to be a Christian. Do you trust Him?

Are you willing to give Him control over your marriage? Your sex life? Your parenting? Your thought life? Your identity? Your finances? Your entertainment? Your words? Your discipleship? Your church involvement?

Are you willing to follow Him, even when He commands something that’s hard?

If you will not trust Jesus, you will be cut to pieces when He returns!

If you’re relatively new to Christianity that may seem harsh to you.

“Nobody really deserves hell do they?”

When we disbelieve the doctrine of hell, the problem is not that we value humans too much. The problem is we value God too little.

If you scratch a totaled car in a junkyard, nobody will notice or care.

If you scratch my minivan, you’ll probably just add a bit of character.

If you scratch your neighbor’s new Ford truck, you’re going to have to pay for that.

But if you go to a car show and see a Aston Martin Valour—one of the most expensive cars in the world at $1.5 million—and scratch that car, you will pay far, far more.

The same offense can have different consequences based on the value of the One offended.

God is eternally holy, and His value is beyond our comprehension! Hell exists because God is SO holy!

But there’s good news friend. The Father sent His Son to live the life you should have lived and die the death you should have died.

Jesus died on the cross because you and I have hell to pay for our sins. He died as a substitute.

Three days later Jesus rose from the dead so that if you turn from your sins and trust in Jesus, you can be saved!

Would you trust in Him today? If you’d like to talk more about this, please talk with one of our pastors after the service.

How must we be ready for the return of Jesus? We need a faith that trusts. But also...

B) We Need a Faith That PERSEVERES

Jesus’ second parable is found in verses 1-13.

Their are ten virgins waiting for a groom to come so a wedding feast can begin. But since they don’t know when he’s coming, they’re carrying lamps while they wait in case it gets dark.

Five of the ladies have oil for their lamps. But five foolish ladies don’t.

Carrying a lamp without oil is like carrying a flashlight without any batteries, or a dead cell phone without a charger.

At midnight the groom arrives, but the five foolish virgins cannot see to make their way to him. They try to borrow oil from the five wise virgins but there’s not enough. And by the time they get oil in their lamps so they can see, the wedding feast has started and the door is shut.

What's this parable mean?

The coming bridegroom represents Jesus.

The ten virgins represent everyone who claims to be a Christian.

The five wise virgins represent true Christians, who persevere until the end.

The five foolish virgins represent Christians in name only, who will not be welcomed into heaven because their faith is not genuine.

Midnight represents the time when Jesus will return to rescue His people.

The oil represents true faith that perseveres.

What lessons does this parable teach us?

The most obvious lesson we learn from this parable is that waiting for Jesus to return will be long and hard.

Notice in verse 5 that everybody falls asleep, both the wise and the foolish.

But even though they fell asleep, the wise women wake up and enter into the wedding feast. Even though they weren’t perfect in their waiting, they still persevered.

Christian, you will not perfectly wait for the return of Jesus. You will, like the disciples in the next chapter, sometimes fall asleep when you should watch and pray. You will not trust Jesus perfectly. You will stumble and fall. But if you belong to Christ you will wake up and persevere.

Perhaps some of you are wondering, am I persevering? Here’s what I would say to you if you were talking to me one-on-one. Stop following Jesus. Most of you would reply, “I can’t!” To which I would reply, why can’t you stop? Is it not because you have persevering faith?

It’s significant that both the wise and foolish virgins have lamps.

It’s not like the foolish women were completely unprepared. They just weren’t in it for the long haul.

Like someone who calls themselves a Christian for awhile, but eventually walks away from the faith.

This is not a new problem! The Apostle John tells us it was happening in the early church...

1 John 2:19—They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

The person who doesn’t persevere in the faith gives evidence that they never truly had faith to begin with. So dear professing Christian, don’t let that be you! Cling to God’s Word, cling to God’s people so that this won’t be said of you! Please persevere!

There’s another lesson we must learn from this parable: you cannot borrow someone else’s faith!

Notice the foolish virgins try to borrow oil from others. But that won’t work!

So too, you cannot borrow the faith of somebody else.

Husbands, you cannot borrow a little extra faith from your more spiritual wife. Young people, you can’t borrow it from mom and dad.

You have to come to Jesus with your own faith, or you will find yourself like the foolish virgins with the door to heaven shut in your face!

How must we be ready for the return of Jesus? We need a faith that perseveres. But finally...

C) We Need a Faith That WORKS

Jesus’ final parable is found in verses 14-30.

A master leaves his three servants in charge of his property. He gives the first servant five talents (a talent was a form of currency worth about 20 years wages), the second servant gets two talents, and a third servant receives one talent. While he is away the first two servants double their master’s investment. But the third servant buries his talent in the ground.

When the master returns to settle accounts with his servants, he praises and rewards the first two servants. They put the master’s resources to work and his investment grew. But the third servant was confronted for his failure to do anything with what he had been given. And the master throws that wicked servant into a place of outer darkness.

What's this parable mean?

The master going on the journey represents Jesus who is about to leave His disciples.

The servants represent everyone who claims to be a Christian.

The talents represent the different levels of gifts and privileges that Jesus gives.

The faithful servants are genuine Christians, while the wicked and slothful servant is not.

The “joy of the master” that the faithful servants are invited to enter into represents heaven.

The outer darkness where the wicked servant is cast represents hell.

What lessons does this parable teach us?

Christian, Jesus does not expect you to accomplish the same thing as everyone else.

The first servant received five talents and the second servant received two. But both servants used what they were given to serve the Master.

This story is, of course, where we get that phrase “well done, good and faithful servant.”

I’ve heard preachers say that phrase is reserved for the really fruitful Christians. But that is NOT TRUE!!!

Notice the man who earned 2 talents receives exactly the same praise as the man who earned 5 talents!

He doesn’t say to the second guy, “nice try, okay and mediocre servant. enter into the disappointment of your master.”

Faithful follower of Jesus, you may not have as many gifts as your brother or sister. You can’t sing. You can’t speak publicly. You're not creative. You’re not especially good with people. You’re not a natural leader. But if you’re a Christian, you have received gifts from the Holy Spirit

Jesus does not demand that you generate the same output. He demands we all give the same input.

Your job is to work and grow according to the resources Christ has given you.

This parable issues a sober warning to the person without true faith...

Notice what the servant did wrong. He didn’t lose the money. He didn't steal it. He's not working for his Master's enemies. Yet the Master calls him slothful and wicked and casts him into outer darkness!

Why?!?

If you claim to be a servant of Jesus, but you're not moved to use what you’re given to work and grow you don’t really know Him!

Is this passage teaching works salvation?

NO!! Jesus is NOT saying He will take your salvation away from you if you don’t work hard enough.

He is saying if your faith doesn’t lead to good works, it’s not real faith.

James 2:14—What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

The answer to James’ rhetorical question is “No, a faith without works cannot save! And a faith without works is good for nothing!”

Think of it like this. Imagine I showed up a bit late to church this morning. You noticed I was a bit flustered as I walked to my seat, so you tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hopson are you okay? You seem a bit off today.”

What if I told you, yeah I decided to walk this morning. Big mistake. While I was walking down Wythe Creek Road this massive Mac truck driving 60 miles an hour ran right into me. But I’m okay, it just slowed me down a bit.”

You cannot have an encounter with a Mac truck driving 60 miles an hour and not be changed! So too, you cannot have an encounter with the God who speaks galaxies into existence and not be changed!

Dear friend, if you say you have faith but your faith hasn’t changed you by causing you to work for Jesus and grow in holiness, you’re fooling yourself. You may believe true things about Jesus. But so do the demons. And demon faith won’t save you.

How must we be ready for the return of Jesus? We need a faith that works.

It would be foolish for us to listen to all this and not stop to examine ourselves to see if we actually possess true faith.

2 Corinthians 13:5—Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

But HOW do we examine ourselves? Let me suggest a few principles...

1) Don’t examine short periods of your life.

If you examine your faith based on how you did this morning when you were trying to get the kids to church on time, or last week during a stressful week at work, or even last month you will likely be highly discouraged.

Instead, examine yourself over months and years.

Is there evidence that your trust has grown deeper this year?

Has your faith persevered through trials over the past five years?

Is there fruit of good works and spiritual growth in your life over the past decade?

2) Don’t examine yourself alone.

2 Corinthians 13:5 commands God’s people to examine themselves together.

Let me show you why this is so important: raise your hand if you are your worst critic.

Many of us are crushed by the weight of our own self-examinations! Left to ourselves, many of us would feel like we need to get saved again every week!

And there’s another problem, and I won’t make you raise your hand for this one. Many of us are also our biggest fans!

So we need brothers and sisters to help us see the sins we need to fight. And to help stir us up to love and good works.

3) Don’t examine yourself foolishly.

Here’s what I mean. Don’t ask dumb self-examination questions.

People sometimes say there are no dumb questions. Well those people are wrong.

Here’s some dumb self-examination questions:

Am I reading the Bible as much as I should? Am I praying as often as I should? Do I love my neighbor enough? Am I evangelizing enough? Am I discipling enough? Am I doing enough good works? Am I trusting as much as I should? Am I involved in my church as much as I should be?

The answer to all those questions will always be NO! Even the Apostle Paul would answer no to those questions!

So here’s some better questions:

How does my Bible reading need to improve? Where is my prayer life weak? Who is a neighbor I’m struggling to love? What is one way I can grow in my evangelism? Who in my church family needs to be discipled, and what could I do to help? What good works are lacking in my life? Where is my trust weak? What is one area where I need to grow in my church involvement?

4) After you examine yourself, look to Jesus!

The most important way Jesus shows us how to be ready for His return is through His own example!

He is the only one who trusted the Father perfectly, even unto death on a cross.

When all His disciples fell asleep, Jesus alone stayed awake and persevered in faith until the very end.

He alone has faith that works perfectly, and by His faithful work on the cross His people are saved!

So yes, let’s take a look in the mirror and confess our sin so that we might persevere. But then let’s look to Jesus, who alone is the author and finisher of our faith.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

One of the most important ways we look to Jesus is by taking the Lord’s Supper together.

1 Cor 11:23-26—“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

The bread we eat reminds us of Jesus’ body given in our place.

The cup we drink reminds us of Jesus’ blood shed so that we could be forgiven.

And Jesus’ people continue to take this meal together to look to Jesus until He returns.

Let me remind, you the Lord’s Supper is a special meal for Christians to remember the body and blood of Jesus.

If you are not a follower of Jesus, we invite you to repent and believe in Him today!

If you have not made your faith public by following Jesus in believer’s baptism, we invite you to talk with us about that today.

Pastor Sam will be at the white flag in the back, ready and waiting to talk with anyone about any of these things. You can make your way to him in a moment when we stand to sing.

If you’ve not repented of your sin and followed Jesus in baptism as a believer we would ask you not to take communion with us in a few moments.

That’s not because we think we’re better than you or anything like that.

But because we want you to receive Jesus Himself, not merely the symbol that reminds us of Jesus.

Because we believe the Bible teaches baptism is the first step of obedience as a follower of Jesus, we shouldn’t take later steps until after we’ve taken that first step.

So if that’s you this morning, you’re welcome to remain in your seat when everyone comes forward for communion in a few minutes.

Or, if you prefer, you’re free to leave the service when we stand to sing in just a moment.

If you choose to leave, nobody is going to be staring at you or judging you because there will also be a bunch of parents getting up to collect their kids from the nursery while we’re singing so that all our PBC Kids’ volunteers can join us for communion.

Let’s continue to look to Jesus as we stand and sing together...

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (verses 1-2)

LORD’S SUPPER

Jesus and you moment as you pray silently, preparing your heart for Communion

Confess sin to God and (if necessary) to others

PRAISE JESUS FOR HIS GRACE!!!

Jesus and others moment as you come to a table, one of our pastors prays over you, and you eat the bread in a small group of friends/family

Sit and pray as long as you need. Then when you’re ready, just walk towards the front and gather around a table in groups of 3-5 or so

Jesus and everybody moment as we take the cup together as a church family

After you eat the bread, you’ll walk down the side aisles back to your seat while we wait for everyone to finish then we'll eat the bread together

Let’s pray again, and then when you’re ready, come to any of the tables

After everyone has had the bread...

Look to Jesus and long for His return as we take this cup together.

Let’s sing together

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (verses 3-4)

Benediction (Revelation 22:20-21)