Luke 17:31-33
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-Well, were still in Luke chapter 17 this morning.
So, if you would...
...please turn back there...
...and follow along in your Bibles.
At first, I thought about...
...finishing the chapter this morning...
...but as I was thinking through that prospect...
I realized, that we had arrived (Providentially)...
...at a subsection of this larger prophetic discourse...
That would actually work PERFECTLY...
...as a text to preach...
...on the day of a baptism...
(That is...
...provided that I only covered...
...the next three verses!)
So, for non-sinful pragmatic reasons...
...we’re going to be looking at...
...Verses 31-33 this morning.
-What they emphasize to us...
What they remind us of...
...that’s germane to the subject of baptism...
Is, what...
“The Calling of the King”
...is/means for those who...
...commit their lives to his service.
Is that relevant to water baptism?
Absolutely!
That’s one of the...
...primary things that baptism symbolizes:
The Consecration of our lives...
...to the service of King Jesus!
-So, for sake of time...
...let’s only read the new verses right now...
Then we’ll come back and review...
...the necessary parts...
...of what we’re omitting.
This is the Word of the Lord:
31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.
32 Remember Lot’s wife.
33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
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Pray
-If you will, look at Verse 31 again, with me...
And notice that it begins...
...with a reference to a particular day.
It says:
31 On that day...
Now, normally in a situation like this...
...to figure out what he’s referring to...
...we would just back up in our text...
...and see what the antecedent was.
In other words...
...what was the “day” that was last specified.
(And, that’s certainly the proper thing to do)
But given the complexities...
that are inherent within this text
that have been imposed upon it...
...by certain eschatological persuasions...
I think we need to be really CLEAR...
...about what “day” Jesus is referring to.
So, let’s review our way down...
...until we find the antecedent in Verse 30.
Remember:
In Verse 21, Jesus had told the Pharisees:
21 ...the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
And I believe, as do many others...
...that he was referring to...
...his physical, visible presence among them...
...as the Messianic King.
But... then he had turned around...
...and warned his disciples in Verse 22, that...
22 . . . “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
In other words, he was telling them...
...that he would soon depart from the earth...
And that they would enter into a period...
...in which they would see him no longer.
-And then in Verses 23-24 he warned them...
...to not listen to anyone who might come...
...claiming that he had returned...
...albeit in some secretive, less-than-obvious way.
To protect them from being thus deceived...
...he told them, this...
...about the nature of his coming:
24 ...as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
In other words...
...the day upon which he returns...
...the day upon which...
...they will see his face again...
That day… will be:
Visible
Powerful
Decisive
Undeniable!
Everyone will know what has happened.
-That was the first description...
...that he gave of “the day” . . .
-But down in Verses 26-29...
...he broadened out his scope a little bit...
...and began to describe...
...the days leading up to “the day.”
Look at Verse 26:
26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
(The days when Noah was on the earth...
...will be similar to the days leading up to...
...The Son of Man’s return to the earth)
And in Verse 27, he began describing...
...the spiritual complacency...
...that would characterize those days:
27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
And again, in Verse 28:
28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,
29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—
They were just living for the pleasures of this life...
...and the Judgment of God overtook them...
Suddenly
Inescapably.
And Jesus said in Verse 30:
(And we’ve finally arrived at our antecedent)
30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
“unveiled”
“manifested”
“made known”
The day, when, as Paul said:
7 ...when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
8… inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
And when...
10 ...he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed...
“That Day,” brethren...
...will be a day, of both:
Final Judgment
Final Salvation.
For some it will be a day of absolute terror.
For others, the day of their greatest joy!
And it’s the presence of Christ returning to the Earth...
...that will be the cause of both.
-Now, with that in mind...
...let’s read—and heed...
...the warnings Jesus gives in the next two verses.
31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away...
...and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.
Now, boy oh boy...
...are these tricky statements.
Here’s why:
In the OLIVET DISCOURSE...
(which this text is not)
(Luke records that Discourse...
...as a separate event)
In that discourse...
...Jesus gives almost the same instructions...
...but in a clearly different context.
Let me show you what I mean:
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
That’s the context of the Olivet Discourse...
AT THIS POINT!!!
(It’s not the entire context!)
(More on that many months from now)
But here, in that context, he said:
17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house,
18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
Luke’s account makes the reference clear:
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.
That began happening in 66 A.D.
That’s the context behind those words there.
In light of that event:
21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it,
See the similarities?
22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.
23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people.
24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles...
That happened
In their generation.
So, the message there was...
Flee for your lives!
Escape the coming Judgment from God!
Don’t worry about the Temple or the Earthly Jerusalem
Don’t waste time with earthly possessions!
Just Go!
And that was the message...
...to Palestinian Christians...
...living at the end of the first Century...
...as they awaited God’s Covenant prosecution to fall...
...on the rebellious house of Israel.
But guys, would that...
...MAKE ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER...
...in the context of our passage?
NO!
The context of our passage, is...
30 ...the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Not when the glory of Disappears...
But when the Son of God Appears!
-Jesus says of that day:
31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.
(BTW: This wouldn’t fit the idea...
...of a secret invisible rapture either)
So, if both of those are wrong...
...then how should we understand...
...the command that Jesus is giving here?
-Well, think about the interpretive clues...
...that are given in the surrounding context:
Think about it:
What was the warning of Verse 27?
26 ...in the days of Noah...
27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day . . . the flood came and destroyed them all.
Their love of this earthly life...
...caused them to not flee to the Ark of Safety!
-What was the next warning?
28 ...in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,
29 but on the day when Lot went ...fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—
Again, they clung to their material pleasures.
The lusts of their flesh...
...anchored them down...
...as the Judgment of God fell upon them.
Their attachment to this life...
...cost them the life to come.
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-So, what’s the warning of Verse 31?
What’s the King Calling us to do?
Is it to flee Jerusalem and the Roman army?
NO!
Not here!
That would be totally out of context here.
The warning in Verse 31...
...is the same as those prior warnings!
The warning… the exhortation...
...to the followers of Christ is simply...
Don’t be like the Antedeluvians!
Don’t be like the Sodomites!
Don’t be like the Gomorrans!
Don’t prioritize ANYTHING (especially material things)...
...over God and his Kingdom.
THAT’S the “Calling of the King”
It’s essentially a call to...
8 ...count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
To...
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
It’s a call to:
13 ...forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
That’s “the King’s Calling” in Verse 31.
And Verse 32, reinforces that.
Look at it with me.
It's an important interpretive key!
(It doesn’t appear in the Olivet Discourse)
(Indicating a different emphasis here)
32 Remember Lot’s wife.
What does she have to do with Verse 31?
EVERYTHING!
What is SHE most known for?
For looking back at Sodom, right?
Remember what happened:
The angels told Lot...
13 ...we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
15 ...the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”
24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
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So, what’s the point?
Don’t cling too tightly...
...to earthly hopes and treasures
Don’t prioritize your stuff over Christ.
Don’t get caught up in the good life...
...and lose sight of the life to come.
Make sure the return of Jesus Christ...
...is the greatest desire of your heart.
Be prepared for His return!
Make sure nothing is lacking...
...when that Day comes upon you!
-My (obviously favorite) commentator...
...on the book of Luke, says this:
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
The consequences for not being prepared will be eternally fatal...
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
At that point there will be nothing they can do to escape disaster, because they never came to safety in Jesus Christ.
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
To show how hopeless their situation will be, Jesus said, “On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back” (
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
In other words, when judgment comes, no one will have time to run back inside and get their belongings.
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
In Matthew and Mark this warning almost certainly refers to the judgment that fell on Jerusalem in A.D. 70, when the city was sacked by the Romans.
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
But here Jesus is looking to a farther horizon. He is speaking about the day of the Son of Man and saying that
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
The
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
Lot’s wife and her husband had compromised their godliness by living in the sin city of Sodom. They wanted to get as close to the world as they could get away with...
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
Why was this woman destroyed? It was not so much because of where she looked, but because of what she loved.
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
When Lot’s wife gave a backwards glance at the burning wreckage of Sodom, she was looking back
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
the security of her family, the pleasures of sin, and the approval of neighbors who knew how to have what they called “a good time.” This was
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
God had shown her the way of salvation, and she was well on her way to safety. Yet because her heart was still back in Sodom, she perished along the way.
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
This calls for serious
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
We should consider, therefore, what belongings we are still trying to salvage from this fallen world, and what sins our heart still longs to commit.
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
Jesus is warning us against having a “sinful, selfish attachment to worldly things,” including all the things we know we should leave behind, but still hold on to.
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Example of Lot and His Wife
The nice house, the bigger paycheck, the job or the spouse we always wanted—
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That’s the idea!
Be ready for his return!
How?
By making sure that HE...
...is the greatest longing of your heart.
By Making sure that HE...
...is your greatest treasure, desire, and joy!
By recognizing that HE...
...is the Pearl of great price”...
...and letting go of everything else...
...in order to obtain HIM!
-Now, Verse 33, both...
Clarifies that this is the correct understanding of Verses 31-32...
And...
Brings us to our promised application for baptism:
33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
As we break this down...
...pay attention to 2 things:
1.) This wouldn’t make any sense...
...in the context of the Judgment of 70 A.D.
(at least not that second clause)
2.) The antithesis Jesus is making...
...with the lives of the Sodomites and the Antedeluvians.
-Alright, Let’s break it down.
33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it...
“desires”
That’s the vey opposite...
...of what we would expect, right?
By striving to preserve my life...
...I’m going to forgo it?
By working hard to enjoy the good life...
...it's going to pass me by?
That’s radically counter-intuitive...
In any age—among any people!
-The rest of the Verse is equally counter-intuitive:
33 ...but whoever loses his life will keep it.
“keep” = “preserve”
Again, that’s the very opposite...
...of how we think, isn’t it?
“It’s in the laying down of my life...
That I actually pick it up?”
“It’s in the forfeiture of it...
That I actually gain it back?”
“It’s in ceasing to strive for the good life...
That I actually obtain it?”
“How can that be?”
“What can Jesus mean by that?”
Well brethren, we ought to know that.
We’ve studied a similar message before:
It too contained...
“The Calling of the King”
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
“he said” = “he was saying”
imperfect tense
His ongoing message.
24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
Elsewhere: “his own soul”
26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
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So, what’s the message of our text today?
What is “The Calling of the King” ?
And what is our baptismal charge?
It’s this:
10 ...Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
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That’s what the King calls us all to.
-Seasoned Saints:
Is it worth it?
Is Christ worth it?
Can we do that in our own strength?
Not in a million years!
-What do we need to do that?
Grace and Power from God.
We need the Spirit of God...
To work in our hearts:
To put to death our longing for lesser things
To set our affections upon the face of Jesus Christ!
Can we do it...
...if HE is our help?
Amen!
Hallelujah!
Praise God!
We sure can!
Let’s ask for his help.
