Jesus is coming....Be ready
Notes
Transcript
Intro.
Intro.
Good morning my friends,
I hope you all had a good week.
I want to say thank you to everyone who came and helped with the HELP center giveaway, it was a great project and much needed to serve those in need.
It was a good day.
And today is a good day, it is good because it is the Lord’s day and we have the joy of worshipping together.
So this morning, I want us to press on with a message from the Gospel of Matthew, and we are going to look for chapter 24.
Now this is an important chapter because it begins a look into eternity, of future events, especially those associated with the second coming of Jesus into the world.
And we need to be reminded of these things, because in remembering, we will strive to do our best for Jesus.
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 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, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 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. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
So from these text we know that Matthew, the former tax collector who was known as Levi has followed Jesus faithfully from the day Jesus told him to come… He has been a faithful disciple.
And he is writing this telling us about the life of Jesus, but also here in these last chapters he records what Jesus said about the future, about future events that we should be aware of, looking for and making sure that our house is in order when the day arrives.
So with this in mind, lets consider 3 thoughts today....
The first one is this...
1. The World is full of Wickedness...
1. The World is full of Wickedness...
Now we understand, since man fell into sin, (which is illustrated for us so fully in Genesis chapter 3), the world has fallen away, slowly and surely becoming more and more corrupt.
And with each passing day people live and are more and more unaware of God and His work in this world.
We see it every time the news is on… the place, the timing and the circumstances really do not matter…
we see evil, wickedness… and what is it truly?
It is sin, and it is being lived out in this world..... and we know who the author is behind sin and corruption. It is the devil, the father of lies.... he is at the heart of it all..
And here is what’s worse… people are living their lives unaware.... just lost in life...
Living day and in day out for self
Let me take you back to our text and lets examine what Matthew is telling us.
Verses 37-39
37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 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, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Do you see the correlation, just as the world was wicked when God destroyed it so long ago.. when Noah walked about the earth in Genesis 6.
Lets me share with you Genesis 6, verse 5
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
How sad, wickedness was great, every intention of his heart was evil… They had forgot God in that little bit of time, they forgot what it was to live for and love God. And so in that day God destroyed the earth with water, only saving one family… Noah’s with a ark full of animals.
What about today… is the world wicked in all its ways?
Yes, it has fallen back to those ways and it grows worse as the day approaches...
Now we will talk about the day in a moment… but lets focus on life..
Matthew says as that day approaches people will be eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage…
The meaning is simple, life will continue, and people are unaware and do not care to be prepared...
Look around us, our nation is the best in the world, and slowly it is falling more and more away from God.
People curse and take his name in vain, they promote and conduct vile actions like abortion… they kill their own offspring, offering them up to the god of self, I don’t have time, I don’t want to be burdened down, its my body and my rights…
The world has done this time and time again, offering their children up to different man made pagan gods...
So as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be when he returns...
People will being going on with life and how they want to live it not knowing, not expecting that there is a time limit in this world, there is coming a day.
The day of the Lord was voiced all throughout the Old Testament, it was the final day, the day when the Lord brought all the dead and with mankind would He judge all. So it was a day that no one knew when it would happen… But it was certain...
But the call as always been for mankind to live prepared, to be ready...
But clearly here people are just going on with life as if nothing is going to happen...
But swiftly the Lord will return my friends..
Let me stop right here and let me ask you a question… Do you know someone who is just living life for them, they say this is all we have and might as well get on with living?
Oh my friends is you do, Pray for them, daily asking the Lord to give them spiritual sight that they might see and understand their need of a Savior.
Jesus is coming soon...
And that pushes me into my second thought today my friends,
2. No One Knows the Day or the Hour.....
2. No One Knows the Day or the Hour.....
The Scriptures testify to this truth over and over again, in fact Jesus even says so as well.
But how can that be? How can Jesus not be aware of the timing of His own return?
Lets go back to our text...
Verses 36-37
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Verse 36 is one of the most significant verses in all of Jesus saying about eschatology, which is the study of last things.
What is being said here…
Well start off with this thought.. all the questions about ‘When is Jesus is coming back are misguided”....
The Bible says plainly… no one knows the day or the hour of His return.. Jesus will say it again down in verse 42
42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
So man doesn’t know and it cannot be known… Why> God the Father has chosen to know that truth and Him alone
Matthews tells us that the angels of heaven, all those wonderful messengers of God are silent in the manner because they do not know of the Lord’s return..
Then Jesus says.. I do to know.... so the Son doesn't know, the second person of the Holy Trinity does not know...
Listen to Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 13:32
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
So again, no one knows except the Father in heaven.
Here is one of the most amazing insights into the Holy Trinity. God the Father knows, but the Son and the Spirit and all of heaven are left now knowing..
In our world today there have been many who have tried to predict the second coming of Jesus.
The Jehovah's witness did it a great deal for years… first is was 1874, then 1914, and 1918 and then 1925… they stopped after that.. they even built a house out west and deeded it to Abraham, Issac, Jacob or anyone from the 11th chapter of Hebrews… No one ever claimed it so the leader of the JW’s moved into it...
So why didn’t Jesus know? We are uncertain but this much is true the Bible tells us of Jesus and his voluntary limitation, even though He is God, the Son, the second person of the trinity does not know the day or the hour..
Now I say voluntary because Paul tells us in Philippians 2, that Jesus willingly humbled himself and made in the fashion as a man, humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on the cross.
But for now...
Jesus waits, sitting at the right hand of the Father waiting to hear, Son do get your church. You can ready about that in I Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 13-18.
Now here is the truth of the matter, since we are unaware of the day and hour.. the meaning is clear, we must be expectant.
We must live as if the day or the hour could be at any moment.
Let me ask you a question… Do you believe that Jesus could return at any moment?
Then how are you living today? If He returned is your house in order.
If not, my friends you better get it ready....
Now just one last thought today...
3. His Return Is Certain....
3. His Return Is Certain....
There are things in this life time that we feel certain about… but my friends there is no greater truth in heaven and under heaven today than this.. Jesus is coming again!
And when He does return this whole world is gonna change...
Lets go back to our text...
Verses 40-44
40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 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. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
When He steps out of glory to get His children the Scriptures are clear as to what will happen..
But Jesus is speaking plainly about all these people who are alive at His return here...
He says as humanity is going on with life, there are going to be some strange events taking place in this world..
He says there will be two men working in the field, one will be taken and one will remain, two women grinding the wheat at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left.
You see that is the picture of world when His return happens,
I Thessalonians 4 tells that at the trumpet call of God the dead in Christ will rise first.. and then we who remain will be caught up into the air to join them.
So in our world, there were be believers, those who have their houses in order, those who have believed and followed in the Lord Jesus Christ and those who have lived for themselves, they may say they believe in God, they they might even say they know him.
You see, for the Jews of the day that Jesus is speaking about.. many said they knew and followed God, but their hearts were not right.
We know that Jesus came and died, gave his life as an atonement for sin. And in doing so we are saved, forgiven, and heaven is our future home.
One that day here, there are people who are taken up to heaven and people who are left.
My friends, to be left here is a terrible thing...
Go back and look at verses 42-44
42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 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. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
What does Jesus mean? stay awake.
Since you do not know the day or the hour of his return, stay vigilant, be prepared, be ready. Don’t worry about trying to figure out the when, just be ready When He does...
And then Jesus teaches them a parable.... remember what a parable is.. earthy story with a heavenly meaning..
look at again at verse 43
43 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.
If the owner of the house had known ahead of time when the thief was coming, he would be ready. why? so as to foil the attempt, to stop him from doing him harm.
Listen, wouldn’t it be convenient to know, my car is going to break down on this day… or something else might happen on that day so you could stop it, do what ever to takes to change it, to stop it from happening.
Oh that would be grand.
But that is not life… we don’t know when things are going to happen, we don’t know how many days we have here on planet Earth
So what do we do?
We live ready, we are prepared a head of time.
Listen, how many of you follow the prescribed maintenance on your car like its laid out for you..?
If you did, it might last longer.
We have been told, the world has been told… Jesus is coming again. Judgement will follow… Be ready.
Why don’t people listen? They are living for today, blinded by the god of this age, the devil himself.
Jesus says we must be ready, for the Son of Man, will come when we least expect Him,
its been over 2000 years, I think it is getting close, We need to be ready.
Lets pray