Times I've read this passage
of scripture and then Matthew and Luke, same account and well, okay, but what does it
mean to watch? Now we are both included in the
people he's speaking to when he says, what I say to you, I
say and all that means this is what the Lord is saying to me.
This is what the Lord is saying to you tonight. But I take it particularly as
a word to me. You see, the Bible doesn't tell
other people what to do. The Bible tells me what to do.
That is so very important. I hope we'll all hear it this
way. Now the word watch is taken from
the word that means wake up, arise from sleep. It even means
arise from death. It means to take heed, to be
watchful, to be attentive. Paul said, let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch. and be sober. Now in the context, he's talking
about his second coming in this thing of watching. Look in verse
26 of chapter 13. And then shall they see the son
of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Oh, the second advent of Jesus
Christ. Everybody's gonna see him coming
in the clouds and he's gonna come with great power and glory. Don't you look forward to that?
I know you do. He speaks of the certainty of
this in verse 31 when he says, heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my word shall not pass away. What authority he speaks when
he says my words, only God can say that. My words shall not
pass away. And then in verse 32, he speaks
of the uncertainty as to when it's going to be. But of the
day and the hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels, which are
in heaven. Neither the son, but the father. Now I am amazed when men make
predictions as far as a date with the second coming of Christ. When Christ says he doesn't know
when it is. And men make those predictions. You can probably
remember growing up, or at least I can, The Late Great Planet
Earth by Hal Lindsey. It had a big showing. More recently,
Harold Camping making his two predictions. One was wrong, and
he said it was miscalculated. He made another one. It was wrong
as well. And do you know that in my lifetime,
there have been at least 18 publications by different men who gave the
date of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? Doing that is a fool's errand. Even the Lord, Jesus Christ,
the man Christ Jesus, does not know when He will return. Now, I'm sure you've wondered about that before.
How can that be? He's God. How can He not know
when He is going to return? Well, as God, he knew. As man, he didn't. As God, he knew. As man, he did
not know. Now, as a man, he lived in a
womb for nine months and had no more consciousness than any
other baby in a womb. There were certain limitations
he took on as a man. He was said to grow in wisdom
and in stature, in favor with man and with God. He grew weary. He grew hungry. As a man, he had physical needs. If he didn't eat, he would starve. He took on the limitations of
the flesh. Now, he is fully God just as
if he were not man at all. And God knows. And he was fully
man just as if he were not God at all. And as man, He did not
know. Now that's mysterious, but how
many other things are mysterious in the scriptures? You know,
I find it a great mystery that Jesus Christ died. He's the God
man. How did he die? He's not, I can
understand that mean you can die, but him dying, the God man,
how did he die? I don't know, but he did. That's
the point. He did. The man, Christ, Jesus. And the man Christ Jesus did
not know when he would return. But if the day verse 32 and the
hour knows no man, no, not the angels, which are in heaven,
neither the son, but the father. Now take ye heed, watch and pray
for, you know, not when the time is this time of his return for
the son of man is as a man taking a far journey who left his house.
and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and
commanded the porter to watch." Now, if you look in Matthew's
account, after he gives this parable, we have Matthew chapter
25, where we have three parables regarding this thing of watching.
The parable of the virgins, the parable of the talents, and the
parable of the last judgment. And Lord willing, we're gonna
consider each of those for the next three weeks. But tonight,
we're just going to consider this one statement, verse 37,
what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. Watch for what? Now there's some
other things the scripture speaks of us being awake and alert and
being on our guard and taking heed there into and watching
for. But the first thing that he speaks
of is watching for his return. You see, we love him. We love
him. And understand this, the point
of his return is not so much when he will return, or what
will happen when he will return, or how that takes place, it's
who's coming. It's who's coming. Now I've got
my views on the millennium and so on, and so do you, but it's
just not that, who's coming? Who's coming? We long to see
his face. We long to hear His voice. And we know that when He returns,
we're going to be perfectly conformed to His image. Even so, come Lord
Jesus. Now, we have the assurance of
His return, and we're looking for His return. Now, if I'm not
looking for His return, That means I'm looking at something
else, doesn't it? You know, looking for his return puts this earth
in proper perspective, doesn't it? It puts this world in proper
perspective. And the desire of every believer,
even so, come Lord Jesus. Watch. Watch for my second return. I mean, be in expectation, look
for it. You know, I want to be, and I
know you do too, I want to be somebody who is actually consumed
with this. I want to be somebody who is
a fanatic about this, consumed with the thought of the return
of Jesus Christ. Can't take that too far, can
you? Watch. Now turn with me to Matthew 26.
I've got some other things, and this was helpful to me. I hope
it'll be helpful to you. Matthew chapter 26, beginning
in verse 37. Then cometh Jesus with them into
a place called Gethsemane and said unto the disciples, sit
ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and
very heavy. Then saith he unto them, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here and
watch with me. Now what a request. The Lord
asked these three disciples, you stay right here and tarry
with me and watch. with me. And he went a little
further by himself. And he fell on his face and prayed,
saying, Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt, and he cometh unto disciples and findeth them
asleep. Maybe they were snoring. I mean,
they were crashed. He said, Watch with me. just for a little while. And
he comes back and they're all fast asleep. They didn't stay
awake. They didn't watch. And he saith unto Peter, what? Could you not watch with me one
hour? Watch and pray that you enter
not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. Now here he says to his sleeping
disciples, wake up, watch, be attentive, lest you fall into
temptation. And then he makes this statement,
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh Now, what he's
talking about when he makes that statement, he's talking about
the two natures of the believer in him, the spirit and the flesh. The spirit is willing. To will is present with me right
now. I would never sin again. I would never have a proud, arrogant
thought again. I would never judge anyone again. I would never be harsh again. I would be just like the Lord
Jesus Christ. I would. The spirit is willing. But there's something else called
the flesh. And the flesh is weak. The Lord acknowledges that. The
flesh is sinful, the flesh is weak. Now listen to me, you have
still the same nature that you were born with. Now you have
a new nature that you were born again with, but you have the
exact same nature, just as sinful, just as weak, just as vile, just
as corrupt as it ever was. Now, with regard to the flesh,
how easy Is it for you to fall before temptation? Let me ask
you again. How easy is it for you to fall
before temptation? All you got to do is be tempted.
What's going to take place? Have you ever been able to just
completely, you know, just the fact of being tempted is sinful
in itself. You know, the Lord wasn't tempted to sin in the
sense of, oh, he, he wanted to do it, but he fought the temptation.
No, he was without sin, without fault. He was, when it says he
was tempted at all points, like as we are yet without sin, it's
not saying he was tempted to commit some kind of sin, but
fought it off. No, not at all. He experienced
all the weakness and the feelings of infirmity of sin when he was
made sin, but he was not tempted to sin. But me and you, what
happens when we're tempted? Now here's the point the Lord's
making. Pray that you enter not into temptation. You ought to
know and I ought to know that I'm so weak and so sinful and
so liable to fall before temptation. The only thing to do is, Lord,
let me not even be tempted. I know what will happen if I'm
tempted. Deliver me from being tempted. Put a hedge about me.
I know what'll happen. I'll make a mess of things. And didn't the Lord teach us
to pray this every single day? When you pray, lead us not into
temptation. Deliver me from being tempted. Let me just, Let me be your robot. Let me not be tempted. Put a
hedge about me. Keep me from being tempted. You see, the spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak. And he says, watch and pray that
you enter not into temptation. Lord, let me not be tempted. Be watchful about this. Ask the
Lord. Lead me not into temptation. I hope that we don't pray that
automatically in some kind of zombie way because we think it's
the prayer of the Lord. No. Pray this prayer. Lord, lead
me not into temptation. Now turn with me to Acts chapter
20. Verse 31. Therefore, watch and remember."
There's that word, watch, be aware, and remember that by the
space of three years, I cease not to warn everyone night and
day with tears. Now, he says, watch, don't fall
asleep, be attentive. Remember, I've warned you about
this night and day, every night and every day for three solid
years, and I was doing so with tears, so desirous for me and
you to enter into this. Now, what's he talking about?
Well, he says in verse 29, for I know this, that after my departing,
now in this passage of scripture, Paul said, I'm not gonna see
you anymore. We're gonna be looking at this in a week or two, the
messages on Acts. He said, I'm not gonna see you
anymore. And what does he say during this last address? For I know this, that after my
departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, sparing not
the flock. Now what's the first thing the
Lord said after he said to enter in the straight gate? Beware
of false prophets. First thing he said. And they
come to you as sheep, looking like sheep, dressed like sheep,
using a lot of words that sheep would use, but underneath, they're
wolves. And a false prophet, he's got
two things he's trying to do. He's trying to make the way wider
than it is. You've seen that. Or he's trying
to make the way more narrow than it is. That is the work of a
false prophet. And the Lord says, beware of
false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing. And
then he goes on to say, you'll know them by their fruits. Now,
somebody says, I'm a fruit inspector. Stop it. Don't do that. You don't need to be inspecting
somebody's fruit in that sense. I'm a fruit inspector. You don't
have no sense to be one, neither do I. You shall know them by
the fruits, you shall know them by the doctrine, you shall know
them by the converts. That's what that's talking about.
If you wanna know what I believe, don't ask me, ask the folks who
listen to me preach. That's what the Lord means. You
know, he said, when they asked him his doctrine, he said, why
ask me? Ask them that heard me. And you'll know them by their
fruits. If the folks in this church believe in salvation by
works, it's because their preacher believes in salvation by works.
You'll know them by their fruits. And look what he says in verse
30, also of your own selves. He's speaking to these people
and he says, some of you guys are gonna do this. Of your own
selves shall men arise and speak perverse things to draw away
disciples after them to get a following. Now he's looking at these people,
he said, some of you are gonna do this after I'm gone. Well,
that must have been chilling. Therefore, watch. Don't be indifferent
about this. Don't be presumptuous about this.
Watch and remember that by the space of three years, I cease
not to warn everyone night and day with tears. I turn to 1 Corinthians 16. Yes, we're watching for his second
coming and looking forward to it and anticipating it. But in
watching for his second coming, there's some other things we're
watching out for too. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 13. Watch ye. Same word, same direction. Watch ye. Stand fast in the faith. Quit ye like men, play the man. Be strong. Now in this thing
of watching, the first thing he says in this passage of scripture,
watch ye that you stand fast, that you be firm, that you be
planted in the faith. Now, the How do I know if I'm
planted in the faith? Well, you gotta know what the
faith is. And you gotta know that you believe the faith. What
is the faith? Well, my mind was brought to that passage in Hebrews
6, verses one and two, where he said we shouldn't have to
be laying again the foundation. This is the foundation of the
faith, right here, these six things. Listen to them real carefully.
You can go back and read them in Hebrews 6, verses one and
two. He said, not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works. of faith toward God,
the doctrine of baptisms, the doctrine of the laying on of
hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. Now, these foundational truths,
have I repented of dead works and seen that everything in my
experience before I heard and believed the gospel of God's
grace was nothing more than dead works and false religion, and
there was no saving value in it? It always bothers me when
people try to protect their profession. Well, I was saved, then I came
to learn the gospel. No, you weren't saved. You weren't
saved until you came to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ
and believe the gospel of his grace. And then he speaks of
faith toward God. What is that but faith in Christ?
You have faith in the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. As God,
he must be successful in whatever he does. Oh, you're relying on
him. And then the doctrine of baptism,
all the doctrine of baptism is the doctrine of union with Christ.
Here's my hope, that when he lived, I lived. When he died,
I died. He put away my sins. When he
was raised, I was raised. Union with the Lord Jesus Christ,
that's all baptism means. Union with Jesus Christ, that's
all my hope. All my eggs are in that basket,
that what he did, I was in him when he did it. I look nowhere
else. And then the doctrine of the
laying on of hands. Now that's not talking about
laying your hands on somebody and them receiving the Holy Spirit
and start speaking in tongues and all that kind of stuff. It's
not talking about that at all. That's talking about the priest
laying his hands on the head of the sacrifice, and it represented
the sins of God's elect being transferred to that goat, that
scapegoat. And the only hope that we have
is the transference of sins, my sins becoming his sins, he
putting them away, and his righteousness becoming mine. And then there's
the hope of the resurrection. All my hope is found right here.
When Christ was raised from the dead, I was justified. He was
delivered for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. And when he was raised from the
dead, I was justified before God. I am justified before God. I stand before God without guilt
because of his glorious resurrection. And he raised me from the dead
to believe that. Dead in trespasses and sins and eternal judgment. Everything God does is eternal.
You know, I'm amazed. I've heard people say, I don't
believe in eternal justification. What? Everything God does is
eternal. All the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. Christ is the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Everything God does is eternal. You stand fast in the faith.
Don't be moved. and play the man. You know the
only way you'll play the man, this is for women too, be courageous,
play the man, is if you stand fast in the faith. And that is
what will strengthen you. Now watch, watch, stand fast
in the faith. First Peter chapter five, we've
already heard this song. First Peter chapter five. Be sober, verse eight, be sober,
be vigilant. Now that's the same word as watching.
It's the exact same word. Be sober and watch. Be sober and watch because your
adversary, the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom
he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith. Now, how do you
resist Satan? He's your adversary. And let
me give you a hint. You better not try to do hand-to-hand
battle with him. You can't handle it. Don't even
try. How's he to be resisted? I'm
gonna resist the devil. No, you resist the devil by believing
the gospel. Standing fast in the faith. You stand fast in the faith,
and you're going to resist your adversary, the devil. Now, there
is one called the devil. He doesn't know whether or not
you're really a believer. You don't have an E on your forehead
that lets him know you're one of the elect. Now, I realize
that if you are elect, you are elect, but he doesn't know. He
won't know to the end. So he's going to do everything
he can to keep you from looking to Christ and to cause you to
lose your focus on Christ. That's why he brings these adversaries
that Paul spoke of in Acts chapter 20 to get our eyes off of Christ. And the only way he can be resisted
is by standing firm. Resist him standing in the faith
steadfast in the faith believing the gospel Believing that Jesus
Christ is all in your salvation. I have two more turn with me
to Revelation chapter 3 Now he says to the church at
Sardis, unto the angel of the church in Sardis, write, these
things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the
seven stars, I know thy works that thou hast to name, that
thou livest and art dead. Be watchful and strengthen the
things which remain. Now this is one of the five warnings. to the seven churches in Asia. You remember how he warned Ephesus
of losing their first loved? You're afraid of that, aren't
you? I don't want to do that. And then he warned the church
of Pergamos about the doctrine of Balaam, the doctrine of compromising
the truth. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans,
which simply is talking about clergy laity above the people
is what the word means. Wherever you have clergy laity,
you have trouble if the Lord says he hates it. And then the
church at Thyatira, I think it was, where he warned of them
suffering that woman Jezebel to teach and to seduce my spirits,
my children, to eat things, sacrifice to idols, and to commit fornication.
Jezebel represents the false preacher, the false gospel, and
she's going to seek to seduce God's people with God's Spirit
to commit spiritual fornication, looking somewhere other than
Christ, and to derive spiritual good from eating things sacrificed
to idols, an idolatrous religion. He gives those warnings, then
you know the warning of the church at Laodicea. He said, you're
lukewarm. You're neither hot nor cold. But here we have the warning
to the church at Sardis. He said, you've got a name that
you live. You've got a reputation. You've
got an experience. You've got a name. And you're
living on the past. You're living on past faith.
You're living on your past reputation. You're living on your past experience. You gotta name that you're living. Now, remember the manna. This
is so very important. You ate the manna for that day,
didn't you? What happened if you ate yesterday's
manna? It bred worms. and it stank. Now understand, faith is always
in the present. You look to Christ right now
the way you looked to Him the very first time you looked to
Him. And if you ever find your assurance
from the past, well, I experienced this, I remember when I learned
this, I remember when I did this, If you find your experience that
you're trusting something from the past, as far as your experience
goes, you're not looking to Christ. You're looking to yourself and
you're looking to your works. You're looking to your experience.
He said, you have a name that you live. You're living off the
past and you're dead. Now watch out for that. Now,
can't you see where that's such a dangerous thing that you and
I could so easily fall into? Watch. Watch and strengthen the
things which remain." Now turn to Revelation chapter 16. Here's
the last one. Verse 15. Come as a thief this is talking
about his second return once again here in the book of Revelation
This is how he's coming. He's going to come as a thief
He's gonna come as a thief in the night. He's gonna take everybody
by surprise. I love that You know, you know
somebody thinks he's gonna come at this time. I Whatever he does
coming ain't gonna be there. He's gonna come as a thief in
the night and we're to be looking forward to his return book what
he says I Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and
keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Blessed. What blesses that one
who watches and keeps his garments? Now, if he doesn't do this, he's
going to be naked. And his shame is going to be
exposed. Now, what is this garment that
he's talking about? Well, he's talking about watching. Watch out. Keep your garments. Now, he is talking about the
royal robe of the righteousness of Jesus Christ being the only
righteousness you have. That's the garment he's speaking
of. He's speaking of the same wedding garment that the Lord
spoke of in Matthew chapter 22, when he saw that one without
a wedding garment. He saw it. I don't know if anybody
else did, but he spotted it right off the bat. He said, friend,
how come a stallion hither without a wedding garment? And he was
speechless. Probably for the first time in
his life. He was speechless and the Lord said, bind him and take
him and cast him out, bind him, throw him out hand and foot into
outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth
for many are called but few are chosen. Now let me say something
about this garment. Why do you think the robe of
the Lord Jesus Christ was seamless? to let us know it's not made
of parts. It's not things brought together.
It's one garment, the righteousness of Jesus Christ as my righteousness
before God. Let me tell you something else
about this robe of righteousness. It doesn't have pockets. It doesn't
have pockets you can put other stuff in. It's a seamless robe
and the only place of safety. You know, I was talking to a
preacher And he made this statement to me, and I'll never forget
it. He said, I'm not worried about any of my people trusting
their own righteousness. I thought, ooh. Well, here's
the problem. They're your people. That's a
problem. And are you not scared of trusting
your own righteousness? Of course you are. Oh, we're
to watch. We're to watch. to keep our garments,
and if we don't, that garment of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
one robe of righteousness, we will be exposed and our shame
will be seen. I want to watch, oh, I wanna
have, well, Paul put it this way, oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now watch. Watch, keep your garments. Now, watch for his return. Watch and ask the Lord to deliver
you from being tempted. Because if you're tempted, I'll
just, you'll fall. And when you're tempted, you'll
even be tempted to think, well, I'm gonna fall anyway, so I might
as well. No, just ask not to be tempted. Let me not be tempted. And then watch out against false
prophets. If you follow a false prophet,
you'll have the end of the false prophet. If you follow them all
the way to the end, you're going to have the same destruction
they will. That's how important this is. And the Lord said, beware
of false prophets. Watch that you stand in the faith. Watch
out for your adversary, the devil. Watch for living in the past,
living in past experience and past faith. And watch to keep
your garments. What I say to you, the Lord says,
I say to all, watch. May the Lord enable us to do
that. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that we might be,
by grace, enabled to watch earnestly for your return. Lord, we ask
that we might not be tempted to sin, that you put a hedge
about us and deliver us. Lord, we ask that we might be
enabled to watch with regard to a false gospel. For, Lord,
it could be a poison. Deliver us from that. Lord, we
ask that you would enable us to stand fast, to watch and stand
fast in your faith. Lord, we ask that we would be
enabled to watch against our adversary and resist by standing
fast in the faith. Lord, enable us to watch against
a dead faith that's based on our experience and our things
of the past. Let us look to thee right now
anew and afresh. And Lord, Give us the grace to
watch that our garment is all we have and all we need, the
righteousness of thy dear son. Put this watchfulness in our
hearts for Christ's sake. Lord, the arm of your grace is
so long. We ask that you would do this
in the hearts of each one of us for Christ's sake. In his
name we pray, amen.