I'm going to be staying in Luke's
gospel this morning but moving on a bit and taking some lessons
from a couple of chapters and we're going to be coming to the
text shortly which is Luke 21 verse 36 we've just been singing
about it the title is Watch and Pray Luke 21 verse 36, watch
and pray. We've been reading through Judges
in our daily readings and it's a dark book, it's a difficult
book. There are highlights in it like
the highlights of Samson and Gideon but it's a dark book and
it's characterized by this that Everyone did that which was right
in his own eyes, in the darkest days of the Book of Judges. And
you know, they had seen, the people had seen, the mighty things
that God had done in bringing the people out of bondage in
Egypt and bringing them into the Promised Land. And Joshua,
our great Joshua is our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Joshua
was a type. The name Joshua is the Hebrew
name Jesus, which is the Greek name. he brought them into the
promised land, and there are wonderful gospel pictures there,
and you would think that people would be brimming over with thanks
to God and spiritual awareness, and yet we keep reading, Israel
did evil in the sight of the Lord. No sooner had there been
a time of peace and of prosperity and of spiritual devotion to
God than They drift away. And they go after Baal. Do you
know, you say, oh, Baal, it's this mysterious old religion.
No, it's all around us today. Baal worship is all around us
today. And most of it thinks it's called Christianity, but
it's Baal worship. It's just false. It's a false gospel. It's
a false hope. And they went after it. The people
of God went after a false hope in those days. The people did
evil. in the sight of the Lord. How
much like them, it's occurred to me, how much like them in
the flesh we are. We're so prone to forget and
to forsake. There's a hymn that we haven't
sung for a while, it says, prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone
to leave the God I love, take my heart, oh take and seal it,
seal it from my courts above, because without God keeping us,
we will not be kept. We've seen various lessons in
Luke 19. We've seen salvation accomplished. Jesus says we're going up to
Jerusalem. This is his final journey to
Jerusalem. Why was he going to Jerusalem? Because there at Jerusalem
salvation must be accomplished. He's going to accomplish his
death. He's not just going there for
death to happen to him, he's going to accomplish his death.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter, James, and John saw
the transfigured, glorified Lord Jesus Christ speaking with Moses
and Elijah, do you know what they talked about? The death
that he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. What is it about
this death being something that he would accomplish? Because
it wasn't just something that happened. When people like us
die, it's just something that happens in the normal course
of events. But when he died, he accomplished something. When
he died, he satisfied the law for his people. For the law of
God says this, perfection or death. Not both, one or the other. Perfection or death? Can we be
perfect? No, of course we can't. All have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is none righteous,
no not one. What does it require? The law
says the soul that sins, it shall die. But praise God, our substitute,
our surety, our saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. the infinite
God become man purchased his church with his own blood because
in shedding his blood he had to become a man because God in
and of his spiritual essence does not have blood to shed for
man's sins so he became a man and in Christ he shed his blood
for the sins of his people that the law might say I'm satisfied
there is nothing more to require of them sinner, if you are saved
by the grace of God, look to that. That is all your confidence. The law has no more to say. It
looks at Christ and his blood shed for you, and it says, enough,
enough, that's it, that's it. He looks, he looks for sin in
Judah, and he finds none, because it's been taken away. So they
come to Jerusalem, where this is going to be accomplished,
and as Jesus approaches Jerusalem, As this man, you know, in whom
there was no comeliness, says Isaiah, that we should desire
him, just looked like an ordinary man. In fact, they thought he
looked weary for his years of 31, 32, 33. They said, you're
not yet 50 years old. And are you saying that you've
seen Abraham? He clearly looked like he was a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. And as he comes to Jerusalem,
where this pivotal point of creation is to be undertaken, he is going
to die. He who knew no sin is going to
be made sin, that his people might be made the righteousness
of God in him, that they might have that righteousness that
we must have. For without it, no man shall
see the Lord. He is going to Jerusalem, and
as he comes to the city, Our sovereign God, in human flesh,
weeps. He weeps over the city. He weeps. And then he goes into the temple.
And he's furious! He's absolutely indignant with
rage, and he turfs him out of the temple, and he turns over
the tables. These are profound things that we read here. These
are profound things. And then he goes on and he gives,
this is the week running up to the crucifixion from when he's
ridden into Jerusalem on the Assis cult, you know that picture
that we saw of the salvation of man. He rides into Jerusalem
and in this week there is much teaching and parables and various
lessons for perilous times and then teaching about the end. a sort of a two-fold revelation
of it, the fact that Jerusalem itself was going to be destroyed
by the Romans in A.D. 70 but also tied in with that
that it's a picture of the end when the Son of Man comes in
judgment to end these things and there's a warning for us
here watch and pray watch and pray God is sovereign in salvation. You know we believe that. You
know the scriptures teach it. You know it's the thing that
man, and especially religious man, hates more than anything
else is that God is sovereign. God, what is it? What was the
glory that God showed? Moses said, show me your glory
to God in Exodus 33. And God said this, I will show
you my glory. This is my glory. I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy.
of God. John chapter 1, you know, those
that were born, not of the will of man, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of descent, nor of any of these other things, but
of the will of God. It's God who is sovereign in
these things, but, but, and here's a big but, don't fatalistically
do nothing. Don't say, well I can't do anything
then, I just sit back and I do nothing. Peter said, to the congregation
on the day of Pentecost when he was preaching filled with
the Spirit this man who was so ashamed of himself for denying
his Lord and on the day of Pentecost the Spirit comes and he's filled
with the Spirit and he's preaching powerfully to crowds in Jerusalem
and he says to them now listen he says save yourselves from
this untoward generation say you do something don't fatalistically
sit back Luke 21 verse 34 says take heed to yourselves take
beware you've got a responsibility you've got a responsibility we
all have collectively and individually for what we do with gospel truth
Is that new teaching to you? No it isn't. I mentioned a couple
of weeks ago the parable of the nobleman giving the pounds to
his servants and when he came back he held them accountable
for what they'd done with it. What is the pound? It's gospel
truth. We're held responsible for what
we've done with the light that we've been given, with the gospel
truth that we've been given. we need to look at the signs
of the times now turn to Luke 21 if you've got your bible led
turn to Luke 21 and verse 25 and let's read a few verses here Luke 21 and verse 25 this is Jesus speaking, there
shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars,
I know there was an eclipse the other day, I don't think it's
talking about that, there are plenty of eclipses, we've had lots of
eclipses down the history of man don't go attaching any spiritual
significance to the fact that the shadow of the moon went over
the sun on Friday morning, no no there shall be signs in the
sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth now
listen to this distress of nations oh that's a bit closer to home
isn't it distress of nations with perplexity the sea and the
waves roaring men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking
after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers
of heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the son of
man coming in a cloud with power and great glory And when these
things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your
heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. but he spake to them a
parable behold the fig tree and all the trees when they now shoot
forth you see and know your own selves that summer is now nigh
at hand so likewise ye when you see these things come to pass
know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand verily I say
unto you this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled
heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away
he's mixing there as I said prophecy of the judgment of Jerusalem
when Titus came with his Roman armies and sacked Jerusalem in
A.D. 70 and just as Daniel prophesied
all the Jewish religious, it finished and it's never been
reinstated, there's never been a temple to this very day left
there but you see he's also talking about the coming of the Son of
Man and the parable of the trees, if you look outside you see the
trees budding at the moment and you think In a few weeks' time,
all that which is just brown and grey out there is going to
be green. It's going to be a vivid green. You know that these things
are coming. It always does. Jesus says, look
at the times. Look at the times. Men's hearts
failing them for fear. What do we see in the world around
us? Is it getting safer? Is it getting more settled? Oh,
the big wars seem to have stopped. The big wars, the world wars,
don't they? Oh, the threat of nuclear destruction
seems to have gone away from what it was in the 1980s. But
look at it. Everywhere is a threat now. Everywhere is a threat from
the people that just were looking in a museum in Tunis the other
day. And so many of them killed because
there are madmen everywhere who are prepared to take life. Men's
hearts failing them for fear. Is it the end times? Are we in
the last days? Well yes, ever since Christ went
back to glory we've been in what the scriptures call the last
days. But he says, look at the times, look at the seasonal signs,
what is yet to be fulfilled? of that which the Scriptures
prophesied. I tell you, there's only one thing left. Only one. Of all the prophecies of Scripture,
there's only one left to be fulfilled, and that's for Christ to return.
That's for Him to come back. Is Christ's return imminent?
Is He about to come back? Do you think He'll come back
today? I wonder, will He come back this week? Is now the time? Is now the time? I wonder if
we had a poll round the room, do you think he's going to come
back today? Oh no I don't think so, I really don't think so,
Luke 12 verse 40 Be ye ready therefore also for the Son of
Man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Do you think not? The Son of Man cometh at an hour
when ye think, this is what the scripture says. So what should
we be doing to be ready? Be ye therefore ready also. What should we be doing to be
ready? Or what should we beware of in being ready? Well I've
got three bewares for you and a command. from the teaching
of our Lord Jesus Christ in this last week in Jerusalem in the
run-up to the crucifixion when he redeems his people he's ridden
into Jerusalem and there's teaching here and the first beware is
beware of becoming like the religion Christ condemned beware of becoming
like the religion Christ condemned we start in Luke 19 at verse
41 Luke chapter 19 and verse 41 let me read these verses down
to verse 48 and when he was come near he beheld the city and wept
over it saying if thou hadst known even thou at least in this
thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are
hid from thine eyes. What's he saying there? He's
saying the gospel has been acted out before your eyes in everything
to do with the temple worship And it's been there right before
you, the things that belong to your peace, because that gospel
of blood redemption, without the shedding of blood there is
no remission, and there in Jerusalem was animal sacrifice, picturing
the sacrifice of the Lamb of God to make remission for sins. He says, those things which belong
to your peace, you've had them before you, but now they are
hid from thine eyes. Verse 43, for the day shall come
upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee,
and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. He's speaking
about the Romans coming in A.D. 70. And shall lay thee even with
the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not
leave thee in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest
not the time of thy visitation. You weren't ready, you weren't
thinking, you weren't watching, you weren't praying. and then
he went into the temple having wept over Jerusalem he went into
the temple and began to cast them out that sold therein and
them that bought saying unto them it is written my house is
the house of prayer but ye have made it a den of thieves and
he taught daily in the temple but the chief priests and the
scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him
and could not find what they might do for all the people were
very attentive to him And that theme goes on but I won't read
any more at the moment. So he's there in Jerusalem where
he's come to accomplish redemption. Who is this? Who is this? Who
is the one that we're reading about? This is God. Infinite
God. Holy God. The one who dwells
in unapproachable light and he's become a man. He's become a man
to redeem the dying. Why has he become a man? Because,
as I said, God, in his spiritual nature, cannot redeem man. God
cannot satisfy his law. He can be just as a judge, but
he cannot be justifier. of those who are unjust. He can
be a just God and condemn, but he cannot be a saviour of sinners. He has to become a man. So he
becomes a man in order to redeem. How does he redeem? By the shedding
of his precious blood. For the life is in the blood.
The life of the infinite Son of God is what satisfies the
law of God for the people of God. for he was loaded with their
sins, their sins he bore in his own body on the tree the sovereign
purpose of God is going to be fulfilled but he's a man who
is walking this earth to do that fulfilling of the purpose of
God. And as a man, as an infinite man, he's touched with the feeling
of the infirmities of mankind, of our infirmities. He's a man,
he's a real man, a man there is, a real man. He's a real man,
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows what it
is. Our God in heaven knows what
it is to wear this flesh. Do you know that? He knows what
it is to wear this flesh. Our God in heaven. He was tempted
in all points like as we are, yet without sin. And he's got
a sinless man's heart of compassion. Here he is weeping, the man,
God, who knows what he's going to do, he knows the end from
the beginning, and yet, clothed in the flesh of a man, he's weeping
with compassion. Can you see that? This is a mystery,
is it not? Rightly does Paul say to Timothy,
1 Timothy 3.16, he says, great is the mystery of godliness,
great, for God was manifest in the flesh. you know when you
get people knocking at your door telling you that Jesus was a
great person but not God how do they get around that scripture?
God was manifest in the flesh in him dwelt the fullness of
the Godhead bodily yet here he is weeping with compassion for
the lost in John chapter 11 he comes to the tomb of Lazarus
and he weeps there and the people said look see how he loved him
here he is the one who knows as God he is going to raise him
from the dead He's going to roll that stone away and raise him
from the dead. He knows as God he's going to
do that, but the man weeps. He weeps over his friend. Here
is our Savior before us in the scriptures. In Hebrews 5 and
verse 7, we read about him with strong crying and tears, and
it's an obvious reference to his time in the Garden of Gethsemane,
where he sweat as it were drops of blood, where he wept. What
was he weeping at? He was weeping as a man at the
horror as a perfect man, as a sinless man, at the horror of being made
sin, for we don't see sin as God sees sin. We see sin just
relative to one another. And we scale it, oh I'm not as
bad as that person, I'm a bit better than that one over there.
But we're totally depraved. Totally. Totally. read Isaiah
chapter one from the sole of the foot to the crown of the
head there is no soundness in it all have sinned this is our
saviour on display well does that hymn say hallelujah what
a saviour such and one becometh us Hebrews 7.26 what a perfect
saviour how he's fitted for every need of you and me as a sinner
But then we see him, he goes into the temple, verse 45. He
goes into the temple, and here we see our God, who is a consuming
fire in wrath. I already said some time ago,
when we looked at the earlier account, he did this twice, at
the start of his ministry, in John chapter 2, and then at the
end of his ministry here. Two occasions when he turned
out the traders from the temple. And I said that the one in John
chapter 2 is patently a miracle. Here is a man that they sought
to kill and he goes into the temple and he turns them out,
I mean with what power does he do that? That's miraculous. Here is our God as a consuming
fire, casting out the traitors, telling them, you have made it
a den of thieves. Now imagine, let's bring it up
to date. Imagine that Jesus, and I'm not using the name irreverently,
I'm talking about Jesus the man, Jesus the God-man. Let's say
he comes, the Christ of God, but Jesus the man comes here
today, to this area, to this area, and he visits all that
calls itself Christianity, and especially, especially that which
calls itself evangelical Christianity in its pride. What would he find?
He would find a den of thieves, exactly as he found in the temple.
He would find a den of thieves trading and defrauding men and
women with religious rubbish. Religious rubbish. What religious
rubbish am I talking about? You go to these places. Well,
don't go to them. Believe me, don't go to them.
Legalism. a religion that's bound up in
legalism. The truth of the gospel, as it
is in the scriptures, has been corrupted with legalism. They've
bound legal burdens of their own traditions on men's facts,
and they have their systems to keep everybody in place, and
they assume an authority that God hasn't given them. Look in
the next chapter, chapter 20 and verse 2, and look what the
Pharisees, the elders, the religious folks, the orthodox of the day,
said to Jesus, tell us, tell us, by what authority doest thou
these things? Or who is he that gave thee this
authority? as a little fellowship when we
started up in Nedworth we had that very question asked of us
by what authority do you do this? well no authority of man but
the spirit of God has given us the gospel of his grace and nobody
else is preaching it so if nobody else will preach it we'll have
to do it ourselves won't we? we'll have to gather round his
word ourselves because nobody else is doing it if they are
we'll gladly give up and go and join with them but nobody else
is doing it no legalism they're today's pharisees You know, you
think the Pharisees died out in first century Judaism, in
Jerusalem. No they didn't, they're here.
The spirit of Phariseeism is everywhere. Secondly, you'll
find corrupted worship. You know, in this town we've
got a number of these mega churches, these modern mega churches. They
rent office blocks where business doesn't thrive, they leave empty
office blocks, and there's corrupted worship. Because what is there?
There's entertainment added to what the Word of God says. There's
drama added. There's debate added. There's
the world's music brought in to the praise of God, so-called.
There's idolatry of all of the things that are completely unscriptural.
unbiblical practices. There's infant baptism, which
is unbiblical. There are even dedications, you
know, oh no, we just have a dedication when there's a new child, you
know, we just pray, we just pray that God will, well that's all
well and good, praying, but you know, it gets turned in the minds
of people into the same thing as christening and infant baptism.
No. We have management hierarchies,
denominational management hierarchies. None of it is in the Word of
God. Show me where any of it is. None of it is in the Word
of God. What does true worship consist
of? True worship consists of this.
The Word of God being read, the people of God together praying
to God, the people of God praising Him from the heart, and the gospel
of his grace of salvation being preached. That's it, nothing
else, let's stick to that. And then he would find a corrupted
message, where the pure living water of the gospel of free sovereign
grace has been corrupted with drops of poison of works and
free will. There was a man lived about 200
years ago who poisoned most of that which was then known as
sound reformed Christianity, there was a man called Andrew
Fuller and his doctrine superficially when you first read it sounds
like the biblical gospel but you dig a bit deeper and it's
absolutely riddled with free willism it's absolutely riddled,
he says that the death of Christ has enough sufficiency in it
for everyone in the world without exception to be saved would they
only believe him That is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible
teaches that for the transgressions of my people was he stricken. He died for his people. Who are they? A multitude that
no man can number, from every tribe and kindred. But it's all
in the purpose of God. We've got the new Focus Conference
coming up where The idea is that true believers from around the
country gather together and we hear three preachers, maybe four,
proclaim the gospel of grace over three days. And why do we
want to do that? Because it's the truth of God.
In these days when there is such barrenness of spiritual understanding, Local religion has been invited.
I've invited local religion. I've had a reply from one of
them. Well, I've had a reply from two of them. I've had a
reply from one which just said this. Yes? This is where you
would expect orthodox truth. I will not be coming to your
conference, nor will I be publicizing your conference. Now, why would
somebody who is supposedly a pastor with an evangelical tradition,
not want his people to have the opportunity to hear faithful
men proclaim the faithful doctrine of God's salvation in the scriptures.
I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. Like the Jews
of old, there is a fear that their situation will be taken
from them. their cozy situation will be taken from them. Those
people that don't like that doctrine will stop attending. The collections,
the giving, will drop. I won't have my nice comfortable...
and what does it come down to? It comes down to what Paul said
about false pastors. Their God is their belly, in
truth. Rubbish. Rubbish. You know when
Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem at the command of Cyrus, that
pagan king, go back to Jerusalem and rebuild it. What was the
first thing he had to do before he could start building the walls?
He had to clear the rubbish. They're all the time having to,
they couldn't build solid walls, the walls of salvation, on a
load of religious rubbish. A great part of the work was
clearing the rubbish before they could build the walls. That's
what the church needs. Clear that religious rubbish
out of the way. What should we do? You say, ah
well, with God helping us we think we've got the gospel and
we've got the truth. How many places had, and look
at Huntingdon, powerful preacher, where's his church today? You
look at great places of the past where the gospel has been faithfully
preached and you will see nothing but empty shells or idolatry
there now, it's gone. Luke 21 verse 36, our text says,
watch ye therefore and pray. When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem,
he says, I love this verse, he says, they were surrounded by
enemies on all sides. And he said, so we prayed to
our God, and sat on our hands and did nothing. No. We prayed
to our God and set a watch. We set a watch. We looked out
for them. We prayed to our God who's controlling everything,
but we set a watch, looking out for them. What must we do? Watch,
ye therefore, and pray. Watch and pray. Watch and pray. Clear the rubbish of false religion,
and keep sweeping it out. Do you sometimes do like, you
know, you live in your house and you don't notice anything,
and then one day you just happen to look up and you think, wow,
look at all those cobwebs. How did they get there? You know,
we need to keep looking, keep looking, keep watching. We need
to keep looking for religious cobwebs creeping in, and sweep
them out, get rid of them. The gospel is pure as it is. Right, that's the first one.
The second one, beware of losing the centrality of Christ. Turn
to chapter 20, and verses 41 to 44. this is again the Jews speaking
to Jesus in this week before the crucifixion he said to them
verse 41 how say ye that Christ is David's son? and David himself
saith in the book of Psalms the Lord said unto my Lord sit thou
on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool David
therefore calleth him Lord how is he his son? Now what's that
got to do with anything? He's putting things right in
Jerusalem isn't he? that's the impression he's getting ready
for the crucifixion they're debating with him all this time what's
this got to do with anything it's this True religion has Christ
at its centre. Not just as an interesting topic,
but absolutely central. True saving faith, by which I
mean the faith that results in heaven for the one who has that
faith, true saving faith is not about practice, primarily. Oh,
it is about practice, but not primarily! It's not about doctrine,
even, though doctrine is so important. There are plenty of people who
have orthodox doctrine, but have not Christ. It's not just about
doctrine, it's about a person. True Christianity is a person.
It's not just facts you know in your head, it's a person that
you know. It's a person. Paul said, for
to me, to live, is about knowing, no he didn't say is about knowing
Christ, he said for to me to live is Christ. What is it to
live Paul? It's Christ. He's everything. He's the beginning, the end,
the middle, he's everything. He's central. We mustn't ever
lose the centrality of Christ. Not just the name, but who he
is. When we have communion, do you
remember we say that the one who eats and drinks unworthily
does so because they don't discern the body of the Lord. What is
it not to discern the body of the Lord? It's not to know by
faith what he did in saving his people from their sins. He was
David's life and Lord. David who lived hundreds of years,
a thousand years before Christ, David who lived then Our Lord
Jesus Christ was David's life, for to live to David was Christ. He knew Christ. He was his Lord. The Lord said to my Lord. David
called him my Lord. How is he then David's son? Because
he's the Christ of God, who came from the line of David according
to the flesh, but was always his Lord from all eternity. was
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He is my, if you're
a true believer this is what you say. What is Christ to you? What think ye of Christ? What
think ye? In another place Jesus asked
them, what think ye of Christ? Who is he? What do you know? What think ye of Christ? This
is the answer of a true believer. He is my righteousness before
God. I am righteous in him. He is
my redeemer who has paid the penalty for my sins. He is the
one who's satisfied in his death God's broken law for me. that
I might be made the righteousness of God in him indeed as Paul
said to the Galatians I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live
yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me so look for Christ in the preaching lift
him up in your heart keep him as king in everything strain
your ears to hear the Good Shepherd's voice speaking to his sheep,
and when you hear it, what must you do? What his sheep do? Follow
him. My sheep hear my voice, and when
they hear, they follow me, they truly do. And if you don't hear
him, in what you're hearing preached, and I mean here as well, if you
don't hear him, go where you can hear him we've got many who
will be listening to this later on listening to sermons on their
own on the internet because they have nobody where they are who
proclaims the gospel of free sovereign grace but don't get
mixed up with the religious rubbish all around now I'm rapidly running
out of time so I'm going to have to go quickly over the last two
points but the next one, the next beware is in Luke 21 34
and 35 because it's a beware of living
carelessly. And I must cover this point.
Verse 34 of Luke 21. Take heed to yourselves, lest
at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness
and cares of this life, and so that the day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come
on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch
ye therefore and pray always. What's he saying? We have liberty
in the gospel of God's grace. We are not made righteous by
the things we do. That's what false religion teaches.
We are made righteous by what Christ has done. Has done. Completed. We are made righteous,
the righteousness of God in him. In his death on the cross he
made us the righteousness of God in him. So we have freedom,
liberty in the gospel. But don't use that liberty. Jesus
is saying here, don't be taken unawares. Don't use it as license
for debauchery, for hedonism, for carelessness. Do you want,
I've asked myself, do you want to be found worse for drink when
Christ returns? Well you wouldn't know, if you
were due to appear in a court of law for some offence, you'd
make sure you didn't turn up there drunk or in some state
of misbehaviour. So he's saying, don't live carelessly. These things, he says, shall
be a snare to many. They're running a good race,
but they get caught up in the snare of careless living. And
careless living is not liberty, it's not freedom in Christ. It's
a universal affliction. We haven't time to read it but
I was going to read Luke 17 as it was in the days of Noah. These
days are so much like the days of Noah. They were eating and
drinking and doing business and marrying and giving in marriage
and then all of a sudden one day God took Noah and his family
into the ark and shut the door and the flood swept all the rest
away in judgment. Let's not be like them. Let's
not be like they were in Sodom and Gomorrah. They were there
until Lot and his daughters were taken out of the place, and even
his wife looked back, for her heart was in Sodom, and she was
swept away in that judgment. Let's learn the lesson of the
wise and foolish virgins, Matthew 25. You know the story, we haven't
got time to look at it, but don't be foolishly fatalistic and do
nothing. A difference is made Some made
provision. Some sought to save themselves
from this crooked generation. Others, lackadaisically, did
nothing. Strive constantly. This is what
we must do, to put off the old man, as Paul encourages us with
his deeds, and put on the new man, who is renewed in righteousness. Not to gain personal righteousness,
or any sanctification, but for readiness. Watch and pray that
you're ready. Watch and pray. Make yourselves
ready. Encourage one another in this. And have fellowship,
because fellowship encourages one another. If at all possible,
have fellowship. And then finally, my final point.
is a command. We've had beware of the false
religion that's all around us and drifting into it. Beware
of losing the centrality of Christ. Beware of living carelessly.
And then finally, and this is key, pray. Pray that you'll be
ready. What does he say? Watch ye therefore
and pray always. You cannot be ready in your own
strength. None of us can. We can't be ready
in our own strength. 1 Corinthians 10, 13, Do you
think you're going to be ready for that day? Wherefore, let
him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall, because
in the flesh we're weak. Christ's strength is made perfect
in his people's weakness. When I am weak, he says, then
I am strong. When I am weak, he that is down
need fear no fall, he that is low, no pride. When I am weak,
then I am strong. Watch and pray. Nehemiah, we
pray to our God and set a watch. Watch and pray, always. What
are you praying for? Look in verse 36. That ye may
be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come
to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. That you'll be accounted
worthy. That you will be, as Paul says,
in the epistle to the Philippians in chapter three Paul recounts
his experience and his testimony Paul had a religious pedigree
that would make the most religious person today extremely envious
he said nobody can accuse me of anything that they've seen
in the flesh nobody said I've got all these credentials but
he said I count every single bit of it as rubbish as dung
He even said, it's done, it's rubbish. He said, it's worthless. Why? Compared with what? Compared
with that pearl of greatest price. Compared with Christ. He said,
I want to be found in Him. I want to be found in Christ.
Not having my own righteousness, which is through my own law works,
but that which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. The one who
loved me and gave himself for me. The one who satisfied the
law on my account. who has caused me to escape condemnation. We read earlier in 2 Corinthians
5, we must all, and that's without exception, stand before the judgment
seat of Christ to receive what we've done. We must all, without
exception, you, me, everybody else, all, but there's a difference. If you're in Christ, you will
stand there accepted you will stand there accounted worthy
because you will be found in Christ not having your own righteousness
but his righteousness and his righteousness before the throne
of God is perfect righteousness for he's made you that righteousness
in his death on the cross of Calvary you will have escaped
condemnation what does it say in Romans 8 verse 1 there is
therefore now no condemnation to the one who's in Christ Jesus.
Numbers 23-21, I love this, it was given by a false prophet,
Balaam. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, his people, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.
Those words will be pronounced before the judgment seat of Christ
on the church, the people of God. The Lord his God is with
him and the shout of a king The Lord Jesus Christ is our King,
is among them. We will all stand before the
Son of Man, that ye may account it worthy to escape these things
and to stand before the Son of Man. Matthew 25 verse 34, Then
shall the King say unto them on his right hand, on that day,
before his judgment seat, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
He has promised. He's made promises. Listen to
these promises. He said this. Seek eternal life
and you shall find. Seek and you shall find. He said
knock, knock. and it shall be open to you.
Oh, but what if I'm not elect? No, he doesn't talk. He says,
knock and it shall be open to you. He says, come unto me, all
you who labor under heavy laden, under a knowledge of what you
are by nature, a sinner deserving condemnation. And he says this,
I will remove that fear of judgment and I will give you rest for
your souls. Bless his name. Amen.