Matthew 24. You know, this whole
chapter, as we've talked about it, there's a lot of people who
seem to misunderstand the divisions of this discourse that the Lord
gave to His disciples concerning the last age. And always remember,
we can't emphasize it too much, that the last days, the last
age, refers to the whole time of the Gospel New Covenant age. And that extends from the time
of Christ's sojourn here on Earth, His obedience unto death, His
burial, His resurrection, His ascension, and it goes all the
way to the time of His second coming. and we're living in the
last days, but so were his disciples. John, the Apostle John, made
specific reference to that in his letters. We're living in
the last age. And that puts a lot of things
in context. The concept of Antichrist, for
example. Most people today, and sad to
say, it's usually in places where the true gospel's not preached,
Most of them believe that the Antichrist is going to be one
person who arises on the political scene. But I don't believe that's
bore out by the Bible. John said there are, in his day,
there were Antichrist and many Antichrist. And the reason I
mention that specifically, you remember I mentioned the abomination
of desolation. Daniel spoke of a future abomination
of desolation, and he was talking about how the temple of Israel
in Jerusalem and how Jerusalem, how that had so deteriorated
to where it was nothing but desolate. And the abomination refers to
the idolatry and all of that that had pervaded Israel, Judah,
and that whole part. That's when the abomination,
I think historically, refers to the physical act of the Roman
emperor sending his hordes down to destroy Jerusalem, destroy
the temple. But there's a spiritual aspect
to that abomination of desolation, and we see it today. And where
we see it today is in the pulpits of America that call themselves
Christian, but they're Christian in name only. You see the pulpit,
and I'm not just talking about this word, I'm talking about
this position, this desk here. I'm talking about this position.
It is a sacred position. Not because I'm holier than you
or anything like that, not because we're perfect, but because from
this pulpit, what should be preached from here? The true gospel of
God's grace, sovereign grace, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so when men or women today, we gotta put up with that, and
when men or women preaching, that's what I'm talking about,
you women, false preachers, when they stand up in pulpits and
preach a false gospel, that's an abomination of desolation. This pulpit, if a false gospel's
preached from this pulpit, this becomes a desolate place. No
spiritual life. no quality of holiness, which
is our separation from the world. That's what holiness is. Our
holiness is not our character and conduct. Sure, we should
have good character and conduct, but our holiness is that which
separates us from the world, and it's the gospel. And so because
we live in a time that we're getting closer to the end and
we don't know what day it is or what hour, because we're living
in that time, it's gonna get worse. In fact, people say, well,
our times are worse than before. And of course, we read in the
scriptures here when he talks about as in the days of Noah,
those were bad times. These are bad times. See, people
need to understand this world is cursed. And the biggest curse
upon this world is the false gospels, false religions that
people promote that lead them to eternal damnation. That's
the worst. Now, we wanna fight against the
immorality of the world. We do, we wanna stand against
that. We wanna follow the word of God. We wanna be obedient
servants. But the worst thing that can
ever happen to a person, you know, I don't wanna see any young
person get on drugs. Do you? Well, no. But I'll tell
you what, I hate worse when a young person gets hooked on the drug
of spiritual adultery and false religion. That's worse because
that destroys the soul. Not only the body, but the soul.
And so this is what he's talking about here. He's leading up to
the close of this. And in verse 36, look at verse
36. He says, but of that day and
hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my
Father only. Now, a lot of people have a hard
time understanding this. We know that Christ is God manifest
in the flesh. And anybody who denies that denies
the truth, denies the gospel. Because the gospel is founded
upon those doctrines of the person of Christ, the work of Christ.
John said, those who go too far, those who transgress and abide
not in the doctrine of Christ have not God. And that's to deny
his person, who he is, or to deny the accomplishment and satisfactory
work that he accomplished for his people, his righteousness.
That's the righteousness imputed that God has put to our account
whereby we're justified and from which we get spiritual life in
the new birth and brought to faith in Christ. You see, to
deny those things is to deny the gospel. It's to deny salvation
in the Bible. And so When you look at a passage
like this where Christ shows what I call a voluntary submission
to the Father, speaking out of what I call the limitations,
not the sinfulness now, but the limitations of his sinless humanity. You see, Christ as God, the second
person of the Trinity, has no beginning and no end. He was
not created, not a created being, but his humanity was created.
It was conceived in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit,
his human nature. And he united his deity with
his holy humanity into one person, not a mixture of God and man.
God and deity and humanity cannot mix. That's why a lot of people
when they talk about the two nature theory, you gotta be careful
with that now. It's not that sometimes I'm perfect
and sometimes I'm not. That kind of thing gets you off
kilter with the scriptures. But Christ was truly one person
with two natures. And sometimes he spoke and acted
out of the limitations of his holy humanity. For example, he
got hungry just like you and I get hungry. You know, it's
not a sin to be hungry, is it? Now, if I, in my mind, determined to commit a sin in
order to relieve that hunger, that's a sin. But being hungry,
he wept, he sorrowed. Jesus wept. Does that mean that
he had sinfulness? No, it means he was a man, a
perfect man. And there's no sin in sorrow.
And so we read in the Garden of Gethsemane, he sweat great
drops of blood. Could you imagine that kind of
suffering? I've sweated in my life. You
know, you get out and you work in the summer and you sweat and
sweat. But have you ever sweated to
the point that blood started coming out of your pores? See,
that's what I'm saying. But in all of that, he never
knew sin and never committed sin, never been corrupted, never
been contaminated by our sin. But now here he says nobody knows
the hour and the day except the Father. What he's dealing with
here is not denying his deity. He's simply showing his submission
to the Father. And let me tell you something,
that was necessary for him to save us from our sins. He had
to be submitted to the Father. He's the servant of the covenant,
the servant of righteousness, the angel of the covenant, the
minister of the covenant. Well, I'll just quote it, we
won't turn there, but think about in Galatians chapter four and
verse four, it says, in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his
son, made of a woman, that's his incarnation, made under the
law. Now, what does that mean, under
the law? It means he was submitted and responsible and accountable
to obey the law for his people. to obey, he was made under the
law. He had to satisfy the justice of the law by his death on the
cross. And he did that in order to redeem us from sin, to redeem
us from the curse of the law, and to bring us to himself. So
whenever you hear him speak in terms of limitation, of not knowing
something, like for example, over in Luke chapter two and
verse 52, the Bible tells us that as a child he grew and in
wisdom and in stature. Now God doesn't grow. And God
doesn't grow in wisdom, God is wisdom. And Christ himself is
the personification of wisdom according to Proverbs chapter
eight. So how did he grow in wisdom? Well, as a human child,
just like you and me, when we grew up, we gained more knowledge
and gained more wisdom. But as God, he already knew everything.
Now, I know that that's a mind boggling Way to see it. But shouldn't that be the way
it is? Shouldn't that be the way it
should be rather? Because he's God. I mean, who can fathom the
depths of God? Christ submitted himself. And
so sometimes he manifested the qualities of character that belong
only to God. Think about it. He raised the
dead. And he gave his disciples the
power to do that. He healed the sick. Only God
could do that. You say, well, Paul and Peter
and James, they did it, but that wasn't by their own power. It
was by the power of God. And so all of this, you know,
he calmed the storm. Only God can do that. So sometimes
he manifested, made known qualities of character that belong only
to God. But here's the point. The reason all this had to happen
is that he had to die. Well, God cannot die. Now, I've
heard preachers say, well, God died. You got to be careful with
that stuff because you don't want to misrepresent and deny
the deity of Christ or the deity of God himself. God cannot die,
but this person who is God died. Well, that's to be attributed
to his sinless humanity for our sins imputed to him. Now, man
cannot create and give life, but this person who is man did
create and does give life, and that's to be attributed to his
deity. Now, stand back and worship the Lord. Isn't that right? So don't use, when people try
to use things like this to deny his deity, that's not what he's
doing. He's saying that the Father, God the Father, the first person
of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit, the Father represents the sovereign authority of the
Godhead. And that's why Christ said, I
didn't come to do mine own will but the will of my Father which
is in heaven. His will, the Father's will, and Christ's will are one
and the same. But he subjected himself in obedience
to the Father to save me and you, whom he saves. And that
was necessary for him to satisfy the justice of God. So think
about those things. In Matthew 24, look at verse
37 through 39, and I've also put down Luke chapter 17 here
along with it as a cross-reference, so turn to Luke 17, and we'll
read both of these passages. First, look at Matthew 24, 37. He says, but as the days of Noah
were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be, Now you
know about the days of Noah. Remember it talks about how God
took a survey and looked down on the earth and man's thoughts
and ways were all evil. All evil. And if you look back
at that at Genesis six, we won't turn back to that. But what's
really interesting, this is one of the things I remember when
I first really was brought under the gospel. But I was basically,
I don't know about you, but I was basically, when I grew up in
false Christianity, I sort of looked at it this way, that the
whole world was evil, but Noah, he was better than the rest.
Noah was a good guy. But you know, that's not what
it says in Genesis 6. It said all of them were evil,
but Noah found grace. in the eyes of the Lord. Now
here's what I know now. If Noah was a good guy, he didn't
need grace. Grace is for sinners. As sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. If Noah was a good guy, he didn't
need mercy. Mercy's for sinners. God be merciful
to me, the sinner. And then unconditional love. Who needs that? Those who don't
meet any conditions to earn it or deserve it. It's for sinners. So Noah found grace. So what
was the difference between Noah and the rest of all those evil
people? Grace. Now what's the difference between
you and me? and those who live their lives in unbelief and perish
in damnation. What's the difference? Grace.
God's righteousness at Christ's expense. That's what grace means.
God's, all that he has for us is by grace. So he says, for
as in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of
Man be. Verse 38, for as in the days that were before the flood.
Now listen to how he describes this. They were eating and drinking. Don't we eat and drink? Marrying
and giving in marriage. You went to a wedding a few weeks
ago, your son. All right, until the days that
Noah entered into the ark. And you remember how Noah entered
the ark, God put him there and shut the door, you remember that.
And it says in verse 39, and knew not until the flood came
and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of
Man be. What's he saying? Life is gonna go on as usual.
Look over at Luke 17, verse 26. Luke puts it this, he says, and
as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days
of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they
married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that
Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed
them all. And it says likewise also as
it was in the days of Lot. He adds Lot, you remember Lot
and Sodom? They did eat, they drank, they
bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. So we, you know,
life as usual. Verse 29, but the same day that
Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven
and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the
days when the Son of Man is revealed. Second coming of Christ. So what's
the point of all this? We know the days of Noah were
evil. The days before Noah were evil. The days after Noah were
evil. Our day is evil. That's as high
as this earth can go. That's as high as man can do.
You know, I've often said that, you know, we think about our
country here and how thankful we ought to be because we can
meet here this morning and we don't have any hindrance from
the government, no laws passed that says you can't do that.
You know, that was happening back in these days. And I thank
God for that. And I love our country because
of that. I love our situation. But this country is not our salvation. And it wasn't founded on the
gospel. Now there were some biblical principles that they used. Those
guys didn't even believe the Bible. Heck, Thomas Jefferson
wrote a different version of the New Testament, and he removed
all the miracles out. So, and I'm not saying that just
to jump on them, I'm just saying, don't get the idea that we're
in a Christian country, we're not. There's only one Christian
country, and that's the new Jerusalem. And we're all members of that
kingdom. But then think about Noah, they were eating, they
were drinking, they were going about their business as usual,
just like people do. Get up in the morning, work during
the day, go to bed at night. And then in Lot's day, you know
how Sodom was, they just carried on their little party the way
they wanted to do, and then boom, there it come, when they least
expect it. Go back to Matthew 24. Look at
verse 40, he says, then shall two be in the field and one shall
be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at
the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left. Now y'all
know what you've heard about that. Make sure, if you're not
a believer, that you're not driving behind a believer when it comes
because they're gonna disappear and you're, that's not what that's
talking about. This is no secret rapture. Read
passages like 2 Thessalonians 2, 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5. When
Christ comes again, it'll be with a shout, a trumpet shout,
public. It's not people just gonna disappear
and then live on for another thousand years in a perfect world.
That's anti-gospel. And it's for people who are ignorant
of the truth. But what's he saying here? When Christ comes again,
those who have died and are in the grave, their bodies, they're
gonna be pulled out of the grave and they're gonna be resurrected
unto life and united to a new spiritual body. This corruptible
must put on incorruption, 1 Corinthians 15. And he's gonna gather them
together And then those who are not found in Christ, not washed
in his blood, think about it. We're washed in the blood of
Christ, but they're not. Those who are not clothed in
his righteousness, those who have not been born again by the
Spirit, they'll be left, they'll be left behind, but they'll be
gathered together unto judgment and perish because they'll be
found without righteousness, Acts 17 31. God has appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by
that man whom he hath ordained and that he hath given assurance
unto all men and that he hath raised him from the dead. So
the point of this is simply to tell us that we need to be on
our guard. We need to be ready. And look
at verse 42. He says, watch therefore. Be on your toes and watch what's
going on. For you know not what hour your
Lord doth come. And he says in verse 43, but
know this, that if the good man of the house, now the good man
of the house is like the master, the owner. If the good man of
the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would
have watched. He'd been on his guard. and would
not have suffered his house to be broken up. Now, he's not saying
that Christ is a thief. He's not saying this thief is,
he's talking about the, that a thief is one who comes unexpectedly. I mean, if you know there's a
thief running around your neighborhood and you know he's coming to your
house, you're gonna be right there ready. You're gonna have your
armor with you, your gun, or call the police or whatever.
And what he's saying is that Christ is going to come in the
same way when you least expect it. And he says in verse 44,
therefore be ye ready, watch. Now how do we watch and how do
we be ready? We're not making ourselves ready by trying to
earn our salvation or our rewards by our works. Now we are to work,
we're to work hard, we're to try to be good people, but that's
not what we're doing. If you're on the watch in the
sense of trying to earn your favor with God by your works,
you're not going to be on guard at all. You're going to be surprised
like those in Matthew 7, 21 through 23. Haven't we done this? Haven't
we done that? Only hear him say, be gone. I never knew you. So how do we watch and how do
we be ready? He says in verse 44, therefore
be also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son
of Man cometh. And he says, who then is a faithful
and wise servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household
to give them meat in due season? Who is that faithful and wise?
Those who focus and fix their eyes, their hearts, their minds
on Christ. Make sure, how do we do it? You're
here this morning. How do you watch and be read?
You make sure that what I'm preaching to you is the gospel of the word
of God. And if it's not, then you better
come and talk to me. And if I get offended at that,
there's a problem, and it's with me. You understand that? You know, there's a lot of preachers
they don't want to talk about. They don't like you to question
them. You better question them. Test the spirit. Test the preachers
by the word of God. Watch and be ready. And how am
I going to be ready? Paul described it in Philippians
three, I think in verse nine, he said, that I may know him
and be found in him, found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of,
the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness of God, which is
by faith, which we receive by faith in the knowledge of it.
And so watch and be ready, be on your toes, go to where the
gospel is preached, go to where Christ is preached, where he's
exalted. where he's worshiped in truth.
Don't go where they don't preach him or where they deny him or
where they corrupt the word of God. Be careful, Satan through
his subtlety to corrupt their minds from the simplicity that's
in Christ. What is it? That's the singularity
that all my salvation is wrapped up and founded upon and made
sure by this one person, God, manifest in the flesh, by whose
blood and righteousness I am justified forever before a holy
God, and from whom I have eternal life, spiritual life, that keeps
me looking to him, that brings me to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. I'm not gonna plead my works.
That's dead works. bring forth fruit unto God, grow
in grace and knowledge, read the scriptures, listen to the
one who preaches the truth. That's how we watch and be ready.
And he'll come in any day, any night, any hour, we just don't
know. Okay.