May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, and we'll read verse 44. The
Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, and reading verse 44. Therefore be ye also ready, for
in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh. These words, of course, were
written some 2,000 years ago. And they were written 2,000 years
ago to indicate those things that would come to pass. And
quite clearly, we are very much nearer to the fulfillment of
those things than we were 2,000 years ago. And the chapter that
we read, the 24th of Matthew, it's not isolated, of course.
There are a number of chapters and a number of positions where
we are told about there being an end of the things of this
world. The end of what we might say
the end of time. You see we live in time at the
moment. Time started when God created
all things back in the beginning of the when the Bible tells us
in the Garden of Eden And before that, when he made all those
things by speaking them into existence in just those six days. So the world has been running
for apparently some 6,000 years and we are aware, we should be
aware that there will be an end of time. That doesn't mean there'll
be an end of everything. There'll be an end of time, but
the reality is that when time finishes then eternity will continue. And eternity is something that
you and I cannot really understand. It has no beginning and it has
no end. But how important it is that
we realize there is an eternity to face after this world has
finished its course. Now the chapter we read told
us something about the situation which would develop and perhaps
from verse 29 we read immediately after the tribulation of those
days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her
light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of
the heavens shall be shaken. I might just say here of course
that we are dependent upon the sun and the moon for light at
the moment But when God created the world, of course, he was
the light to begin with. When he made the light, he was
that light. And it was after that that the
sun and the moon and the stars were made. So there'll be no
problem with that, any sun or moon, because he will still be
the light. And then shall appear the sign
of the son of man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn. And they shall see the son of
man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."
So that's a very clear picture, isn't it? That we are told here
that the Son of Man will come. He will appear. He will appear
in the clouds and we can also have confirmation of that. The
Apostle Paul, when he wrote to the Thessalonians, he also spoke
about this situation and in the first epistle and the fourth
chapter we are told for this we say unto you by the word of
the lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of
the lord shall not prevent them which are asleep for the lord
himself that's the lord jesus christ shall descend from heaven
with a shout with the voice of the archangel with the trump
of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever
be with the Lord. And such words, perhaps people
might think they're morbid. Well, the Apostle Paul tells
us this, wherefore comfort one another with these words. They're not really morbid words
to the Church of God. They are morbid words to those
who are not believers, because those who are not believers want
to carry on living in this world. It's only for a very short time
anyway. And then, of course, they won't be blessed with that
eternal life in heaven. They will find themselves in
that eternal place of hell. So it's a very solemn and true
realization. And let us be very clear about
this. The Bible is true. Some people
try and pick holes in it. and say, well, I can believe
that and not believe the other. From the beginning of Genesis
to the end of Revelation, you can believe and rely upon the
Bible as being true. So let us not think, well, I
don't think I agree with that. It doesn't matter what you think
or what you agree with. The truth is the same. And these things
will occur. There will be an end of time
and the Lord will descend. And that's why we have these
words, that we read tonight. Therefore, be also ready for
in such an hour as you think not the son of man cometh. And of course, that will be a
very solemn occasion. And as we were just reading,
we were reading this, what will happen. And then they should
appear the son of man in heaven. And then should all the tribes
of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in
the clouds of heaven. with power and great glory. And
he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet. We're
told that when the end of time is, the angels will sound a tremendous
trumpet sound, which will get louder and louder. And everyone
will hear it when the Lord determines the end of time. It won't matter
what you and I are doing. I've sometimes thought that throughout
the world, there'll be so many different situations. There are
people just going to bed, People sleeping in bed, people getting
up, people having their breakfast, people having lunch, people having
dinner. And then there'll be those who are getting married,
those who just got married, those who are thinking about getting
married. Then there'll be those who are dying and families around
the bedside. There'll be those enjoying themselves,
perhaps just going on holiday and thinking how wonderful it
will be. There'll be those on holiday and those coming back
from holiday. There'll be those in hospital. There'll be those
perhaps in school. There'll be those in university.
There'll be those at college. In all those situations, totally
varied, there will be that time when the Lord will come and there'll
be that trumpet sound. time shall be no more and everyone
will hear it and when that occurs there will be no longer any time
to repent of our sins because the voice has said time shall
be no more while we are in time we can hope for the mercy of
God when we are out of time there is no longer mercy Let us not
therefore think these things are irrelevant because they are
vitally important for every one of us here tonight. Every one
of us. And so the Lord goes on to say,
she'll send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they should
gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of
heaven to the other. You think of that everybody as
it were flying about and everybody rising from the dead. All the
bones gather together, all the dust of ashes. People today,
they think they can become cremated and therefore there's no more
life. Well, that doesn't matter. God gathers the dust, he gathers
the ashes, and they're all reformed into what they were. And so there
can be no escape. You see, people think they can
escape God by being cremated. Well, God laughs at them. They
don't realize the power of God. They don't realise that as he
made man from the dust of the earth, so very surely he will
bring men and women back to life from their dead bodies, wherever
they may be. Nothing will escape. Nothing
will be able to say, well, I don't think I will ever rise from the
dead. Yes, every single person will.
And there'll be those who will rise to everlasting life, in
glory, and they will rise first. And there'll be all those who
will then be, who rise from the dead to live eternity in hell. What a solemn, solemn position. And let none of us think that
there is any exception. All of us, all of us will be
at that great day of judgment, all of us. Everybody who's ever
been born from Adam to the very last person, Everybody will come
before the judgment seat of Christ. And so the Lord goes on to say
this. Now, learn a parable of the fig
tree. When its branch is yet tender
and put it forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh. So
likewise, when you shall see all these things, know that it
is near, even at the doors. Now, the signs of the times are
very clear. Christianity is in a very low
ebb throughout the world. There's no doubt about that.
There is much persecution to the true Church of God. There's
no doubt about that. Man has turned away from God. There's no doubt about that.
So the situation is, we as a nation and as a world are in a very
sad and desperate condition. doesn't mean to say that it's
not going to get a lot worse before the Lord comes but we
don't know when that time will come because we're told the Lord
told his disciple it's only his father knows that day but it
will come and so the Lord goes on to tell us so likewise ye
when you shall see all these things know that is near, even
at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation
shall not pass till all these things shall be fulfilled. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. We know that this world will
be burnt up. We know there will be a new heaven
and a new earth. And so these things will come
to pass. And so we're told, but of that
day and hour, no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my
father only. And then he gives an illustration
just to encourage us to believe the truth of God. But as the
days of Noah were, so should also the coming of the son of
man be. For as in the days that were Before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until
the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the
flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming
of the Son of Man be. When you think of that, there
were just eight people who were saved that went into the ark,
only eight. There were, we don't know how
many, but there were many, many millions, perhaps billions of
people on the earth at that time, who lost their lives. Now, Noah
had been building an ark for a hundred years. It was a great
ark. It was a great boat, we might
say. And there was a testimony, a
witness. The Lord would come and flood
the earth. But of course, mankind ignored
it. Mankind thought it was a joke.
He thought, poor old Noah's building that, and what for? Because obviously
he was building on the dry land and there was no water there.
And don't forget before the flood there was no rain, so what was
the possibility of anything happening? They just failed to obey the
word of God. And it's just the same today.
There are many evidences all around us, and people ignore
the word of God. They think the world's going
to carry on. I expect if we go to bed tonight, we'll think we're
going to get up in the morning. We may not. The Lord may come
tonight. And if he did, would this word be very appropriate? Therefore be also ready. If the Lord was to come tonight,
if that trumpet was the sound, time should be no more. Are you and I ready? Have we
the evidence of God's love toward us? Have we the evidence that
our soul is spiritually alive? Have we the evidence therefore
that it is well with our soul? Or are we just wandering on,
sailing on, more concerned about what we're going to do tomorrow
than whether we're right with God? the important and critical thing
for all of us to know that we are right with God. So we have
this picture of Noah and the ark and just those eight people
were allowed to go into the ark. Noah and his wife and his family,
that was all it was apart from all the animals the Lord graciously
brought together and that was a wonderful miracle to think
they all came to Noah and they went into the ark And then just
remember what happened. God shut the door. God shut the
door. Noah didn't do it. God shut the
door. And when that was done, you see
then, the flood commenced. And it didn't just commence with
rain, it commenced with the fountains of the great deep being broken
up. There were massive earthquakes, massive tsunamis, great things
flooding everywhere. until that had occurred and the
heat of the water etc. had gone up that the rain started
to come down and that occurred for 40 days and 40 nights. It
must have been a terrible situation to be there and to realise there
was no hope but it would be far worse than that at the end of
time. Let us not therefore put these
things away and think they are irrelevant because they are not. and God has told us about them.
You see, you won't be able to come and stand before God on
that judgment day and say, well, I didn't know about that. Everyone
here tonight knows about it. You can't make any excuses to
God. We may make excuses to people. We may make excuses to our parents.
We might make excuses to our friends. You can't make any excuses
to God. Just think about that. You cannot
excuse yourself to God because you will be judged out of the
writings contained in this book. And I'm sure of this, those who
feel to be proud and speak against God, when they stand before that
judgment seat, they won't have anything to say because they'll
be guilty before that holy God. Yes, they'll be speechless and
they'll know that God's judgment is correct. Now, the truth is
that as God comes and touches our hearts and shows us what
we are, we realize that we do deserve eternal punishment. None of us can say, well, I'm
a pretty good person. None of us are. We're all bad.
We're all bad. this is the wonder of the gospel.
We have a glorious saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to
seek and to save that which was lost. He came to save sinners,
those who disobey God, those who turn their back upon God,
and those whom he has come to and called out of the darkness
of nature into the glorious light of the everlasting gospel. And
so therefore these words we have therefore be also ready and the
Lord gives us the reason why as we read some of those words
and just continue and the words that Jesus said then he tells
us shall two be in the field the one shall be taken and the
other left two women shall be grinding at the mill the one
shall be taken and the left it's a very solemn thought isn't it
you know you might be out with your brother or your sister or
your husband or your wife, just to think that one will be taken,
rise up, the other will be left. We don't want to be the one that's
left, do we? And that's the picture that we have in the Word of God. And therefore, what does Jesus
say? Watch therefore, for you know
not what hour your Lord hath come." We're not very good at
watching, are we? If we were honest, we don't really watch
and think very much about these things. We tend to live our life
as though we're not going to die. If I went around tonight and
said, well, who do you think is going to die next? You'll
probably point to somebody else. You wouldn't point to yourself,
would you? Well, perhaps you might, but it's unlikely. You'll
probably look around to see who you think is worse than you are,
and you'll think, well, probably that person is going to die first.
Well, we don't know. We should remember that. The old must die, but the young
may. And so, we are told watch ye
therefore for you know not what hour your lord doth come therefore
be also ready this is a word of gracious instruction it's
not a harsh word it's a very kind word from god to all of
us to think about it to be ready if the lord should come because
he says for in such an hour as you think not the son of man
cometh so the picture there is that you look around you think
everything's going to carry on just like it's done today just
like it's done yesterday just going to carry on we don't know
the lord has a day when time will be no more and it is therefore
so very relevant that you and I are found ready, ready for
that occasion. It's not something to put off.
And you know, you and I can only be ready as the Lord prepares
us to be ready. You won't be able to prepare
yourself. You will need God to prepare
you. What a blessing it is that God
does prepare us. God is gracious. He doesn't leave
us. and he doesn't forsake us. In Peter's second epistle, he brings to our attention something
of the truth of these words when he says, the Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. That really
means that you might think, well, the Lord's gonna forget. The
Lord's going to pass it by. No, the Lord has a perfect plan. The Lord doesn't forget his plan. His plan is worked out. The Lord
is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is long suffering to us for not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. Well, what a blessing if God
gives us repentance that means to be sorry for our sins that
means to confess our sins have you confessed your sins before
god have you confessed before god you are a sinner or have
you been stubborn and hard-hearted and perhaps you don't think you're
a sinner or perhaps you just said it in just a very offhand
way Well, if the God convinces us of sin, you know the effect
will be to make us tremble before God. Because we realize we're
guilty and we deserve eternal hell. Well, what a blessing then
when God gives us repentance and enables us to come to him
and plead with him. And the word of God tells us
this, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But that will be from the heart,
a true confession before a holy God. And you won't be able to
justify yourself. You won't be able to make any
excuses. You have to come and say, Lord, I am a guilty sinner
and I deserve eternal punishment. Lord, do forgive my sins and
do have mercy upon me and do remember me for good. Yes, it
will come from your heart. It won't just then be a theory.
See, real religion ceases to be a theory, becomes a reality
between our souls and God. And so the Apostle Peter goes
on to say, but the day of the Lord will come. See, there's
no doubt about that, is there? It will come. As a thief in the
night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise
and the element shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also
and the works that are therein shall be burned up. So all the
buildings that men think are so wonderful will disappear,
they'll be burnt up. Everything around this poor world
will be burnt up because of course sin came in in the Garden of
Eden and spoiled that perfect environment that God created
for Adam and Eve. A time will come when we'll all
be burnt up. He says then, seeing then that
all these things shall be dissolved. Let us not pass over, let us
not think that this isn't something true. It shall occur, shall be
dissolved. And therefore, what manner of
persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. How does that describe us? How does it describe us tonight?
Is our conversation holy conversation? Holy conversation. What that
means is it's not worldly conversation. It's holy conversation which
speaks about the things of God. We live in an age, a sad age,
when people don't seem to speak very much about the things of
God. They speak about everything else.
They speak about all the things of this poor old world. You would
think we were not godly people. You would think we were worldly
people. People seem just not to want to speak about things
of God. But here we are told what manner
of persons we ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness. It doesn't mean worldliness,
that means godliness. And if we just wait a moment
and consider what this really has reference to, it has reference
to our life. the reality is our life on this
earth is exceedingly small and short compared with eternity
and yet we would think that our life was exceedingly long and
eternity was exceedingly short by the way we speak and the things
that we do and act but the word of God again let us be clear
is true and therefore may we be found desiring earnestly that
our conversation might be holy, might be on the things of God,
not on the things of this vain world, and that you and I may
walk a godly life. And that means not a worldly
life, it means a godly life. And the apostle goes on looking
for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness." Well, that's a question for us tonight, isn't
it? Are you and I looking forward to the new heavens and the new
earth or are we saying well i'm pretty
satisfied with this earth i'm satisfied with where i'm living
today well we're told this nevertheless
we according to his promise look for new heavens and the new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness wherefore beloved see how the
apostle speaks a very Beautifully, wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in
peace, without spot, and blameless. Diligent in the things of God. That's a very important word,
isn't it? It's a very far-reaching word.
And we perhaps have to say, well, I'm not diligent. What do we
desire? to be diligent. The world in
which we live in is a dark world today. We've just run through
a few verses which describe that. But what a blessing if we are
amongst those who are looking forward and are diligent in the
things of God, that we may be found of Him in peace, without
spot, blameless. Now you and I won't be able to
find that in ourselves, of ourselves. It won't be because what we have
done and what we're doing because all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags and the Apostle Paul said when he wrote to the Romans,
in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Let us not think
that we're not too bad a person. It's a wonderful thing when the
Holy Spirit convinces us that we are a very bad person, the
worst person. And so Peter goes on, beloved,
saying that you look for such things, be diligent that you
may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. It's a wonderful thing to have
peace with God. The hymn writer tells us, peace
by his cross. has Jesus made. It's the only
place, my friends, you and I find true peace. Man today is looking
everywhere for peace, but he can't find it. Not true peace. But true peace is to be found,
as you and I found at the foot of the cross, looking to the
Savior. Because there is our hope of
salvation. There's our hope of forgiveness.
There's our hope of redemption. Nowhere else, nowhere else, how
necessary it is then that you and I tonight know something
of the power, of the cleansing power of the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. What a mercy that is. What good
news that is. How wonderful it is. That applies to the very worst
of sinners. It cleanseth from all sin. We're told in the Word of God
it cleanses the sins of Manasseh, it cleanses the sins of Mary
Magdalene, two very bad characters referred to in the Word of God.
Therefore, you and I can take courage tonight that that glorious blood of the
Savior cleanses from all sin. You see, if the Holy Spirit shows
us that by his grace, you and I are under that blood, it will
then bring peace because we'll have the evidence that notwithstanding
all our sin, it is well with our soul. That really is the
important thing to know, that it is well with our soul. And so the Apostle goes on to
these wonderful words, he says, an accounting that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation, even as our brother Paul also, according
to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you. Yes, this
wonderful blessing salvation the saving of our soul the saving
of our soul from hell at last deliverance from it and it's
only through the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and
that of course is when he died upon the cross at Calvary it
was God's ordained way from eternity past to save his people to think
that God himself The second person in the Trinity was so willing
to come into this world to save our souls, to redeem our souls,
so that we might be blessed with that wonderful, glorious gift
of eternal life. It's the greatest gift you and
I can ever receive. Said sometimes, you know, if
you were given perhaps a million pounds or even a billion pounds,
you think, you know, well, that was rather nice and I could do
well with that. Well, it is really insignificant
in comparison with the gift that God gives freely of eternal life. And yet, every one of us need
to receive it. What a wonderful blessing it
is to have the evidence that God gives to us that we are amongst
those who have received this great and glorious blessing,
this gift of eternal life, because then you see, We are ready. We're ready to go and to be with
Christ, which is far better. And if we don't possess it, we
are not ready. We're not ready. Don't think, well, I'm quite
young, or you may even think you're older and you've got plenty
of time on your hands. We just don't know. The important thing
is, therefore, to be ready. To be ready. when that call should
come. So that if the call should come
tonight, we are ready. We are ready because we have
the evidence that Lord Jesus Christ came into this world for
that specific reason, to save our souls. So that by his grace,
we shall spend eternity with him in glory and with the whole
family of God natural man would never be happy
in heaven. I remember many years ago in
my life, I didn't want to go to heaven. I didn't want to go
to hell. I was really in no man's land. I didn't fancy being in a place
which was holy. I definitely didn't fancy being
in a place which was with the devil in endless fire. And so,
what was the position? Well, I remember hearing preaching
of the word, and again, don't forget preaching the word, it's
so important. This was said, to pray for a desire for heavenly
realities. So if tonight you think, I don't
want to go to heaven. If you don't, there's only one
alternative, go to hell. And therefore pray that God may
give you a desire for heavenly realities and give you a desire
to know the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is so wonderful
and so vital because that love of the Savior was so great. He
was willing to die that you and I may be given that gift of eternal
life. It's beyond our natural comprehension. I think that almighty God should
condescend to die for such a sinner, such an unworthy person. And yet it's true. He came to
seek and to save that which was lost. And all we by nature are
lost. What a blessing if we have the
evidence, therefore, that we are amongst those who are saved. And therefore, this word is so
relevant to all of us. Therefore be also ready. Are we ready? That's a great
question. Are we ready to stand before
God? Are we ready? If the Lord should
come in all his glory and the end of all things should occur,
are we ready? Are we saved? Or are we not? Oh, my friends, don't rest without
the evidence in your soul that you are ready to meet your maker. Because we all will have to,
all of us, all of us, to stand before our God. Oh, may we be
ready. Therefore be also ready. For in such an hour as you think
not, The Son of Man cometh. There may be no warning. No warning. But if you're ready, it doesn't
matter. And so, therefore, be also ready
and the Lord shall come.