Matthew 24. Lord willing, we
finish up this chapter this morning. I thought that last week. Vicki said, you stopped abruptly.
I said, well, man needs to know when he's done. When you're done,
you're done. You need to sit down. I think when I was younger, a
man told me, I said this from the pulpit, I don't remember,
but he told me he had written down, he said, you said one time
when you were a younger preacher, you said a man ought to stand
up, speak up, shut up. Well, that's true, although I
don't remember saying it, but it's true. We need to stand up,
say what the Lord gives us, and when it's over, it's over. The title of the message is,
Are You Ready for Christ's Return? He said to them, be ready. Are
you ready? Am I ready for the Lord's return? Now, in the remainder of this
chapter, our Lord continues to speak of His coming, and this
has mostly to do with His second coming. A lot of the first part
of the chapter had to do with the destruction of the temple
and what was going to happen at that time period. But now
he's basically speaking of what's going to happen when He, the
Son of Man, comes back. And he says here, if you'll notice,
he says in verse 36, But of that day and hour knoweth no man,
no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. You remember
in the first of this chapter, the disciples ask him, when shall
these things be? And here, our Lord tells them
and us, no man knows that hour. Only the Father knows that hour. I know that most are concerned
with times and events. That's what present day preaching
is mostly taken up with, times and events. When we look at times
and events, it does away with faith. If you are looking, or
I am looking, at times and events, guess who we are not looking
to? You can't look at two objects at the same time for two different
directions. If you're looking at times and events, you're not
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're looking at the events.
They've got your attention. Christ is to have our attention.
at all times. We're looking for Him to come.
Mary and Martha, the Lord said, your brother will rise again. And they said, we know that he
will rise again in the resurrection. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. They were talking about an event
called the resurrection. He says, I am the resurrection. The resurrection, He's saying
to them, As for believers, the resurrection is a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. We are risen in Him. We're risen
in Him. And so let's not get taken up
with times and events. Let's get taken up with looking
to Him, following after Him, seeking Him, being more conformed
to His image as we make our journey home. This thing of times and events
feeds men and women's curiosities. You know, I could get on the
radio and I could say, we're going to talk about prophecy
this morning. And I'm going to tell you, I'm going to enlighten
you. As I saw someone advertising
a book on enlightening, to paraphrase it, I can enlighten you on what's
going to happen by this book. And I'm sure he sold several
of them. And we could fill this room up if we want to talk about,
I know when the end's going to be. I know exactly what's going
to happen, when it's going to happen, and all the stuff that's
going to go on. But to stand here and speak of
the Lord Jesus Christ, only the sheep want to show up. They're
the only ones that want to show up. But only here, he says, only
the Father knows the time of the end. He's the one who knows
the time for all things. David said this in Psalm 31 15,
my times are in thy hand. He knows down to the second,
my time on this earth. A man said to someone here not
too long ago, they was telling me about this. The man said,
I'm trying to keep my feet above ground as long as I can. Have
at it, buddy. But the second that God has marked
on that calendar, you're gone. You're leaving this world. I
mean, down to the second. Job said that we come into this
world, man days, he said, are like a hireling. What does a
hireling do? He punches in in the morning,
punches out in the evening. You got a specific amount of
time that you work. You got a specific amount of
time that you got to be at that place. Our days on this earth
is like that of a hireling. We have a certain time to be
here and a certain time to leave. And only God knows that time.
David said, My times are in your hands, and they could not be
in better hands than God's hands. I'm not worried about dying in
an accident. I might die in an accident, but
it won't be an accident that I died. That's of God. That's of God. Now, I want you
to notice something here. I know that when the religion
speaks, the present-day religion speaks of the end of time, and
they talk about tribulation, they talk about catastrophes,
they talk about famine, and yes, there'll be a famine all right,
a famine of the Word of God. There'll be a famine of the Word
of God. But I want you to notice how
our Lord says, it will be when He comes. Now, you reckon He
knows what He's talking about? He's the one that's coming. And
this jumps out at me, he's telling us exactly how it's going to
be when he comes. I don't need a book on prophecy,
I have the Bible. So here he gives us a history
lesson. Remember the scripture says,
these things were written for our learning and as our examples. So let's take a history lesson
here. In verse 37, But as the days of Noah were, so shall 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. What
do you see going on here? What do you see? Well, there's
some things I see here. First of all, when the Lord comes,
He's saying here, it's going to be like this, like the days
of Noah, life is going on as usual. There's no catastrophes,
there's none of this famine and all the stuff the present day
preaching. He said life's going on as normal, like in the days
of Noah. Eating, drinking, marrying, and
giving in marriage. That sounds like a festive time
to me, doesn't it? Eating, drinking, marrying, giving
in marriage, festive time, and the eating and drinking. It's
a time, listen, it's a time of prosperity. It's a time of prosperity
when He comes. Things are going to look prosperous. Life moving along was normal.
People having a good time. I don't read famine here, do
you? I don't read tribulation here. What I read is prosperity. Then he says here in verse 39, and they knew not, and knew not
until the flood came. See, they're eating, drinking,
giving in marriage while Noah, listen, while Noah is building
the ark, Just like now, the gospel's being preached. That ark represented
Christ. You know, every time he laid
a plank on that ark, it screamed, judgment's coming. It screamed,
judgment's coming. They'd never seen, to my knowledge,
they'd never seen a storm, a flood. They never saw that before that,
before the flood. None of that stuff. They had
beautiful weather, beautiful days. And they're like, what
are you building a boat for? Noah, you know, he said, judgment's
coming. They're like, what are you talking
about? You know, it's, it was like, you know, it'd been like
1700 years or something like that had gone by and it, there
had been no sign of judgment. and Noah was building this ark. 120 years, 120 years, those people
watched him build that ark. Probably, some of them may have
even helped provide some of the material, got some of the material
from him to build that ark. All the while, he's preaching. Every time I put the plank on
there, drive the peg, he's preaching, judgment's coming, judgment's
coming. And they're not paying a bit
of attention. And then one day, he says here in verse 39, "...and
they knew not, until the flood came, took them all away, so
shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." There's going
to be false peace, false prosperity that makes people believe all
is well. Nothing will put you to sleep.
I was telling a man this last night, he called me. I said,
nothing will put you to sleep like prosperity. Nothing like
prosperity. And he says here, they knew not
till the flood came, and that means this. Here's what this
means, they knew not. They did not take heed to Noah's
preaching. They ignored it. They thought
Noah was a nutcase. They did. They thought the man
was a nutcase. He's talking about God's going to wipe this world
out. No, you're out of your mind. You know what was it Felix said
to Paul? Paul, you're mad. Much studying
has made you mad. When he talked about the gospel,
when he reasoned with righteousness, judgment, temperance, much learning
has made you mad. No, Paul is not mad. Paul, for
the first time, is in his right mind. The person who believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time truly is in the
right mind. Do you know how crazy it is not
to believe God? That's just plain crazy. But they knew not. They did not
take heed to Noah's preaching until the flood came and took
them all away, and then it was too late. Too late. You remember God said to Noah,
come in to the ark? God's in that ark. You know that
in scripture it says God shut him in? God shut that door. You know, if you watch these
Hollywood movies on the flood, they got Noah, I saw it one,
he had him cranking that door up. There wasn't no crank on that
door. God shut him in, God shut that door. God shut that door. And when God shuts the door,
The door is shut. We'll look next, Lord willing,
next week in chapter 25, and it's about the 10 virgins, five
are foolish, five are wise, and look over in verse 10 of chapter
25. While they, that is the five foolish
virgins, went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready
went in with him, to the marriage, they were ready, they went in
with him, and the door was shut. There is a time when the door's
shut and judgment's gonna fall. And they came and they said,
Lord, open to us. And he said, I don't know you. I don't know
you. It was too late. I have no doubt,
no doubt that when the flood came and they realized that what
Noah was preaching, what he was saying, because he's called a
preacher of righteousness, They were knocking on that door, just
like these five foolish virgins. They're knocking on that door.
That door's not opening now. That door's not opening now. He says over in the psalm, I'm
trying to think of that psalm. He said that you wouldn't listen
to me. I'm gonna paraphrase it. You wouldn't listen to me. You
wouldn't take heed to me. Now when your calamity comes,
I'm gonna laugh. That's what God said. That's
what he said. It's too late for those outside
the ark. Only those inside the ark are
safe. Everything outside that ark was
not safe. Now, he said, as in the days of Noah, they're going
to be eating, drinking, it's going to be a festive time, life's
going to be going on as normal, and then the Son of Man's going
to come, And then here's what's gonna happen. With judgment comes
separation. He says, when the flood came,
it did what? It took them all away. All that
were not in the ark, it took them all away. We'll see this
here in a minute, here right now. Verse 40 and 41. Then shall
two be in the field. The one shall be taken, just
like in the flood. When that flood came, it says,
it took them all away. Then shall be two in the field,
one shall be taken, the other one left. Two women shall be
grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other
left. Here's what we see. First of
all, believers work side by side with unbelievers. You have believers
and unbelievers working side by side. They're in the field
working. They live side-by-side in neighborhoods. They live in
families side-by-side. But when Christ comes, all earthly
ties will be dissolved, first of all. All earthly ties will
be dissolved. And the Lord will take some to
judgment. They'll be taken away to judgment.
while others are left to enter into His kingdom that was prepared for them before
the foundation of the world. But He says, when the Son of
Man comes, believers and unbelievers are going to be working together,
going to be living in the same communities, but some are going
to be taken to judgment immediately. There's no purgatory. They're going to be taken immediately.
And the ones left are His children. and they're going to enter into
the kingdom. There won't be any do-overs. What are believers to do at this
time, until this time? Because I do believe, and everyone
in here who believes, believes with all your heart, with all
my heart, this is going to happen. This is going to happen. Just
as sure as I'm standing here and you're sitting there, this
is going to happen. And He says here to His disciples,
and He says to His disciples here this morning, Watch therefore,
for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. And this word
watch, this is more than just sitting in a chair, see if you
can see Him coming. No, it's being about your Father's
business. This has to do with being about
the business that God's given you to do where you are for His
glory. Watch. Be about your father's
business. Be vigilant. Be vigilant. And always looking for his return.
He could return right now. You know, there's nothing left
to be done for him to return, except that one lost sheep be
saved. Wherever it is. Wherever it is. I was looking
at the downloads with people from China, Australia. I mean,
I forget how many countries have been listening to us. It may
be a lost sheep in China, hearing the gospel and believing, and
then the end comes. He comes and gathers his people
to himself. Watch therefore, for you don't know what hour
he's coming. You know, we sing this song prone to wonder, Lord,
I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Sad but so, we still
have such a nature in us that we can easily fall asleep, easily
grow cold, Too easily. You remember over in the Song
of Solomon, when the Lord, her husband, comes and knocks on
the door? She says, I have put off my shoes,
I've washed, and what she's saying is, I don't have time. Spiritual
stupor. Falling into a spiritual stupor.
And he puts his hand in, it says, by the hole of the door, and
his hand dripped with love. And then she went and opened
the door and he was gone, because he's the sovereign. I'm not,
you're not, he is. Let us never take for granted
the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us never take that
for granted. Listen to this in 1 Thessalonians
5, verse 6. Therefore, let us not sleep,
as do others, but let us watch and be sober." Revelation 3.11,
Behold, I come quickly. I come quickly. I said last week,
you know, all this time that we have here, it's really all
short time. When I really think about creation
back to Adam, according to the scriptures, 6,000 years ago.
That's really not that long ago. When you hear a scientist speak,
they're talking about millions and billions of years ago. Well,
according to the scriptures, Adam was created, and what we
have here, 6,000 years ago. That's not long. That's not long
at all. I come quickly, hold that fast
which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." And he's saying this, he says,
there's something good to know here, and he makes a point as
to what he's talking about. He says in verse 43 and 44, know
this, apply this, apply this. that if the good man of the house
had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched
and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore,
be ye also ready." Just like if you knew, if you knew someone
was going to break in your house tonight, somebody's going to
break in, somebody told you they're going to break in at midnight,
would you go to bed and sleep? If someone's going to break in
your house at midnight, are you going to go to bed and sleep?
No. No. I've lived here in the South
long enough to know I know what you're going to do. I don't know
what other people do, but I know what you're going to do. No, you don't. You watch. You're
ready. Forewarned is forearmed, and
that's what he's given his disciples. Be as ready as you would be if
you knew someone was gonna break in your home, looking for him,
because the Lord said he will come as a thief in the night. It's gonna be that sudden, that
sudden. And then he gives advice here
to the faithful and wise servant of his. Who then is a faithful
and wise servant? Verse 45 and 47. whom his Lord hath made ruler
over his household to give them meat in due season. Blessed is
that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.
Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all
his goods. The faithful and wise servant here is God's servant.
He's God's servant. He's been made faithful and wise.
Paul said this morning that he was counted faithful. He's God's
servant. He doesn't live to serve Himself.
He lives to serve God's people. He lives to serve Christ. In
serving Christ, when we serve, let me put it this way, when
we serve one another, we serve Christ. That's serving Christ. We serve Him when we serve one
another. And the servant, and I want you to notice something
else here. He talks about his servant whom
his Lord made ruler over his house to give them meat. That
one stuck out to me probably more than anybody because that's
what I've been doing this week, preparing to feed you, preparing
to give you meat. Something spiritual, truth. Something you can take home with
you and get through the rest of the week with. The servant prepares food for
those he's responsible for. But that evil servant, there
are always tares among the wheat. Always tares among the wheat. 48 and 49, but, and if that evil
servant shall say, listen, in his heart, He's got
a heart problem. He's got heart problems. My Lord
delayeth His coming. In other words, there's no faith. My Lord said He's going to come
back. I don't believe Him. He said that, but I don't believe
Him. I don't believe Him at all. He said, My Lord delayeth His
coming and shall begin to smite His fellow servants. and to eat
and drink with the drunken. He's taking care of himself.
It's all about himself. But this evil servant is a false
professor. He's in it for himself. All that
he does is for himself. He's got heart problems. And
he says, my Lord delays his coming. No, I tell you what, our Lord
is sovereign. He'll come when he will, right?
It's my business to wait. Wait, David said, I say, on the
Lord, and He'll strengthen thine heart. Look over in 2 Peter 3. Here's an example of that evil
servant. He says in verse 3, Knowing this
first, of 2 Peter 3, well, let me go to verse 1, make it so
it'll read smoothly. This second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds
by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which
were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment
of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after
their own lust, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of creation. You say he's coming again. Where
is he? All things have continued the
same as from the beginning of creation. No. He's going to point
this out. No things haven't continued the
same. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the
word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing
out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was
being overflowed with water perished." What they're being willingly
ignorant of, because they don't believe God, is that God already
destroyed this world once. God brought judgment on this
world already once before. There was eight souls saved in
an ark. How many millions did God drown? He said, that they
are willingly ignorant of. Now listen, but the heavens and
the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store. That's what keeps everything
going. By the same word, the word of his power. They're kept
in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing. One day with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day. God does not work on
our timetable. God does not work on our timetable. And that evil servant, he says
in his heart, because he doesn't have any heart faith, he says,
he's not coming. And he starts to beat the servant,
he starts to serve himself. He's mean, he smites his fellow
servants. He's a wolf among the sheep.
You know, believing, I want you to get this. Believing the doctrine
of grace does not make a person gracious. It does not make you
gracious. Believing that God is love does
not make you love someone. If the love of God is shared
abroad in the heart, you will love. It'll be a response. You can't help it. You can't
help it. And if you have the experience
of grace, that's far different than just believing a doctrine. If you have the experience of
grace, it will produce grace in the life. It's going to come
out. You'll be a gracious person. You can't help it. You can't
help it. It's there. Let me point this out, and I'll
wind this down. In verse 50, "...the Lord of
that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and
in an hour that he is not aware of." First of all, Christ is
Lord of both servants. Christ is Lord of both servants.
Jesus Christ is your Lord whether you believe or not. It says, "...and acts that God
hath made him, both Lord and Christ." He is the King of kings and Lord
of lords. He is king over all the earth.
That's what it says in the Psalms. He's king over all the earth. I know we live in what we call
a democracy, but actually this whole world is under a theocracy.
It's under the kingship of Jesus Christ right now. He's not going
to be king. He is king. He's not going to
be Lord. He is Lord. And He's going to cut that servant
asunder and point him his portion with the hypocrites, because
that's what He is. Birds of a feather flock together.
That's what He is. And God's going to point him
His portion there. And there shall be weeping and wailing,
gnashing of teeth, Unleashed hatred is what that is. Unleashed
hatred. You know, God puts in check here.
He puts in check human nature. He keeps it in check. There he
lets it loose. There he lets it loose. I'll close with reading 2 Peter
again. 2 Peter chapter 3. I want to read a portion of Scripture
here to you, the rest of that. Look in verse 9. Now listen,
he says, "...the Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward."
Who's He writing to? God's people. He's writing to
the church, to those who believe. So he's saying, God is long-suffering
to us. That's why judgment is not on
this world. God has a people in this world.
There are sinners still yet to be saved. Not willing that any
should perish, that any of His people should perish. but that
all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness?" That is your life, your conversations,
your life. 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 are not going to crawl up
in a corner. We, the church, we're not scared
and shaking. We, according to His promise,
according to His promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth.
I'm looking for a new earth, new heaven, new earth. I'm looking
to someday walk on an earth as solid as this one without sin. And I'm going to walk with you,
you who believe. We're going to walk together.
We're going to walk together on that new earth. And we're
gonna enjoy Jesus Christ without sin. And we're gonna worship. When he speaks, our minds are
not gonna wonder. We're not gonna be wondering,
where are we going to lunch? Our minds are not gonna be wondering
about work or some project we got going. We're gonna listen
to him speak with perfect attention. And we're gonna get it. We'll
get it. We won't say, what was he talking
about? We'll get it, because we'll have the mind of Christ,
it says. Nevertheless, though these things are going to happen
to this world, this earth, and when it happens, it's going to
be sudden like that. I know today's religion has you
looking at everything. They have people looking at everything.
You and I are looking to Christ. And when he comes, we have this
promise. We're looking for new heavens
and new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you
be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. I don't know the hour that he's
coming. I do know that he's coming. And that's all that matters.
He's coming. Am I ready? Am I ready? Am I looking for Jesus Christ
to come? Am I ready for Him to come? That's the question. He said,
be ready. All right.