Now, beloved, this morning, I
want us to think a little bit about this chapter. Matthew 24
is a chapter that is filled with prophetic things. Much of the
prophecy of this chapter is yet unfulfilled, and some of it,
already we know, has been fulfilled. Whenever we come to this or any
other portion of the word of God, We should do so with a very
prayerful and humble heart, realizing that we're reading and studying
the living Word of God. Therefore, we must seek the Holy
Spirit. Somebody said we need the Holy
Spirit's help. I want to say it this way. We
must seek the Holy Spirit who alone can give us understanding
in the Word of Truth. I want you to hold your finger
in Matthew chapter 24, and I want you to turn with me to John chapter
14 and look at verse 26. Beloved, we need the Holy Spirit
to guide us, to lead us, and to inform us day by day in our
walk and to apply the Word of God to our hearts day by day. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal
the truth, to interpret the truth, to make it sensitive in our very
hearts and emotions to the truth and to what's happening and what's
going on in God's world. We need the Holy Spirit to lead
us. In verse 26, The Lord Jesus said
of John 14, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have
said unto you. Now look in the 16th chapter
of this same Gospel of John, and let us look at verse 13 through
15 here. Howbeit, when he the Spirit of
truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. Now the Holy
Spirit then will guide the Lord's people into all truth. For he
shall not speak of himself. He has no personal agenda. He's
not out to make, as it were, himself famous by speaking something
which is outside of God's truth or attempting to glorify himself. But it says, for he shall not
speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, whatsoever he
shall hear. The Holy Spirit is not speaking
something original, as it were, with him, except as he is part
of the Godhead. That shall he speak, but whatsoever
he shall hear, that will he speak, and he will show you things to
come. He will show you what's coming.
The Holy Spirit will show you. Now, beloved, I said that I would
not say that we need his help. I think we should drop the word
hell. We need the Holy Spirit. Because apart from the Holy Spirit,
we cannot understand, we will never be sensitive at the right
time to God's will, to God's truth, and to the purpose of
God in our generation. the Holy Spirit only can do that
work. Let's yield up our hearts to
the Holy Spirit anew and afresh, that he may bless us with wisdom
and give us understanding in the deep things of God. Now then,
I do not pretend to have all the answers to all the questions
that are raised about the prophecies that are contained in the 24th
chapter of the book of Matthew. In fact, I question that our
Lord intended for us to fully comprehend all that he said here
until the thing actually came to pass, until these things were
fulfilled. I doubt seriously that the Lord
is going to reveal to us or make known all there is to be known
here about these prophecies. Now, I know there's a lot of
hair-splitters Among Baptist preachers, there's a lot of preachers
that argue prophecy, and they spend a great deal of time in
trying to outdo one another in coming up with various theories
as to the events of eschatology, trying to come up with a new
view and try to figure out exactly when the Lord's coming, when
the end of the world is going to come. But we are not of that
stripe. We're not out to set forth new
theories. We're out to try, if we can,
to simply lay our hearts open to the Word of God, let it speak
what it will speak to our hearts, and try to be silent where the
word of God is silent. Otherwise, I believe that in
regards to what our Lord told the disciples here, I don't believe
that he fully meant that they would comprehend this until these
things were actually fulfilled. Otherwise, he would not have
answered the disciples' question, when shall these things be? Now
in verse three, we have the questions that the disciples had upon their
minds and hearts. And it says in the last part
of verse three, tell us, when shall these things be? Tell us
when these things are gonna be. And what shall be the sign of
thy coming and of the end of the world? These were the questions
that were on their hearts. Well, our Lord answered them,
I think, in an ambiguously way. In other words, he gave them
answers here that could be interpreted in various ways, in multiple
ways. He did not just simply make known,
as I would say, crystal clear here exactly when these things
were going to come to pass. The question itself, as they
ask it, tell us. tell us. This question reveals,
I think, a weakness and an improper curiosity in these disciples,
even as it reveals a weakness and an improper curiosity in
those of our day who are only concerned about prophetic issues. In most places you can't get
a crowd unless you're gonna tell them some new thing, something
about when the Lord's coming. And I'm amazed that people still
flock to hear people who are setting the dates and are trying
to, as it were, figure out some kind of a formula when they can
figure out when the Lord is coming. But now I want you to turn to
Acts chapter one. I'd like to read verse six through
eight to you. And I'll show you what I'm talking
about here when I'm saying that the disciples, I think, had an
improper curiosity concerning these things that they were asking
the Lord about. In verse 6, when they therefore
will come together, they ask of him saying, Lord, will thou
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Now you listen
to what the Lord said, and he said unto them, it is not for
you to know the times or the seasons which the father hath
put in his own power. It is not for you to know. This
is another reason why I think the Lord was quite ambiguously
answering the question, was because he said it's not for you to know. It's not for you to know. This
is not something that the Spirit is revealing and teaching at
this time. But he says this, This is in
the Father's own power, under the authority of the Father.
The Father has the authority to reveal these things as to
when they will come to pass. It's under the authority of the
Father. But ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of
the earth." In other words, you're to be occupied with what's going
on now in my purpose. You're to be occupied with the
cause, my cause, in this world. and receiving that which is given
now of God, that is the Holy Ghost, enabling you to do the
work that I want you to do that must be done in the world now,
that is to be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. This is what
I want you to be occupied with. not trying to figure out the
times and seasons, not trying to come to a mind where that
you'll know something about the future that other people don't
know. So the simple fact seems clear to me that prophecy cannot
be fully and clearly understood until the thing foretold has
come to pass. Now look for an example in the
book of Joel, chapter 2. If you would turn back to Joel
chapter 2, this is interesting to me and it shows you what I'm
talking about. Here in this chapter, I want
to read verse 28 down through the 32nd verse. And it shall come to pass, Joel
2, 28, afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men
shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also
upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will
I pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the
heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood
before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it
shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem Shall
be deliverance as the Lord has said and in the remnant whom
the Lord shall call Now if you will turn back again to the book
of Acts chapter 2 Acts chapter 2 and I want us to look at verse
16 look at verse 16 Okay The Holy Spirit had come down
and had baptized the church and Peter had preached. There were those that were amazed
and were in doubt saying one to another, what does all this
mean? What meaneth this? That is in
verse 12. And others mocking said, these
men are full of new wine. The Holy Spirit had come and
baptized the church. They were speaking in other tongues. They were preaching the word
of God. And all that were present was
hearing the word of God in their own language. Great, marvelous
things were done. 3,000 people were saved. And Peter, standing up with the
11, lifted up his voice and said to them, you men of Judea and
all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken
to my words. For these are not drunken as
you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But
look at verse 16, but this, is that which was spoken by the
prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith
God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, and all my servants
and all my handmaidens I'll pour out in those days of my spirit,
and they shall prophesy, and I will show wonders in heaven
above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor
of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness, the moon into blood, before that great and notable
day of the Lord shall come. So we see here that Peter He
understood that this was the fulfillment of what the Prophet
Joel had to say, but when did he come to that understanding?
after the prophecy had been fulfilled. After it had come to pass, the
Holy Spirit had come down, baptized the church. Now, beloved, we
can no more precisely understand prophetic things of the 24th
chapter of Matthew than the disciples understood that Titus would destroy
Jerusalem and its temple in 70 AD, or that the saints of Joel's
day, when they heard Joel prophesy, could understand what would happen
on the day of Pentecost and on which day of Pentecost the Holy
Spirit would be given. You see, they couldn't understand
when this was going to happen. If somebody would have told them
it'll happen on the day of Pentecost, then the question would have
been raised, what day of Pentecost is this going to happen? And
therefore, they could not understand. Only after Joel's prophecy was
fulfilled could Peter say this. is that which was spoken of by
the prophet Joel. So without question, the entire
chapter of Matthew 24 is the answer that our Lord gave to
the question that the disciples asked in verse 3. When shall
these things be? Now I believe that this was a
question to three specific things. Number one, when is the destruction
of Jerusalem coming? When is it going to happen? When
is the temple going to be thrown down? When is it going to be
destroyed? And the second question is, when
are you coming back to the earth? You're going away, when are you
coming back? When are you going to split the
heavens and come back to earth to gather together your elect
to receive them unto yourself? And then thirdly, when is the
world going to end? When's it going to end? Now some
parts of this chapter deal with one of these things. some with
another, and some with the third question. But much of what Jesus
said in response to the disciples' question may be applied, I think,
to two of the events, and some of his answers must be applied
to all three of the events. Now, beloved, you say, well,
that's somewhat confusing, but I think what we've learned is
that These prophecies that we find here in Matthew chapter
24, that these prophecies, they will be fulfilled in God's time. But that we do not know now,
we do not know now. Now certainly the Jews know when
Jerusalem was destroyed. It was in 70 A.D. when Titus
came and destroyed Jerusalem. But beloved, we don't know when
the Lord Jesus is coming back. We know he is coming. He that
shall come will come and will not tarry. He is coming. And
the Lord's coming is nearer now than what it ever has been. The
Lord Jesus is coming back. And we know the end of the age
will wind up. We know we have a responsibility.
And I believe there's some things said by our Lord here in these
verses that have to do with our lives as we live them now. And
though we're curious, as the disciples were, Beloved, there's
some things that we need to know now so that we can live now and
be what the Lord would have us to be. And so rather in directly
answering the question which the disciples asked, I think
the Master seized on the opportunity to teach them some practical
truths. And I want to give you just a
few of these that I find here, and I trust that the Lord will
use this. to teach us so that when we are going about thinking,
as we must think about, the end of all things coming. Peter said,
Be ye therefore sober, for the end of all things is at hand.
The end of all things are coming. The end of all things coming
very soon. We do not know when, but it's
coming. The first thing I want to say
is this, that I believe in verses 1 and 2, when the disciples were
coming, they pointed out to Jesus, they showed him the buildings
of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these
things? You see all of these things, this beautiful temple,
you see all of this majestic work here? He said, Verily I
say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another
that shall not be thrown down. So, what we learn from this is
that we must never judge God's blessing or God's work by external
things. When our Lord left the temple,
his disciples were looking back and looking at that building.
And it was a glorious thing to behold. It was indeed. But I think what this means is
that the disciples They were looking and delighting in that
temporal building. And I think that the word to
us is that we should not delight ourselves or be taken up with
and feel that the Lord's blessing can be judged by the temporal
prosperity of the church, by her buildings, her wealth, her
numbers, and those things that impress men. You see, there are
those that believe that as they look upon this world, unless
you have certain evidences in place, such as if you have to
have a particular kind of edifice to meet in, you have to have
certain things, so many people to even be counted as being one
of the Lord's churches, A lot of people won't even recognize
you as a church unless you have a building of your own that you
can point to and say, that's where we meet. But beloved, we
are not to judge God's blessing or God's work by external things. Here is this beautiful temple
and our Lord said that those things like this building, they've
impressed you and they've impressed men. But he said, that's a great
mistake. all that is external will perish. The day is coming when every
stone that's upon another in this temple is all going to be
thrown down. And the only thing that is substantial
and that is going to stand is that which I have done in the
hearts of men. That which I've done as God. That's what I have done. The
plants which my Heavenly Father has planted, they're going to
grow up and flourish. But every plant which my Heavenly
Father has not planted shall be rooted up and shall be destroyed. Every building is going to be
tore down. So you can look around and be
impressed. But my brother, my sister, remember
this, that only that which is wrought of God is substantial
and will endure and will stand. The temple and those things that
are outwardly impressed men will not. And so don't be judging
God's blessing by what you can see with your eye. You judge
God's blessing only on the basis of, is it of God? Has God wrought
a work? Is God in this thing? Is this
thing of the Lord? And if so be, then it will endure,
it will stand. Number two, in verses four through
12, We must, in our day and time, take great care not to be deceived
by false prophets and false religion. Take heed, our Lord Jesus said,
that no man deceive you. That's in verse four. Now, beloved,
this statement of our Lord is so very important that we understand
this, that this can be applied to God's people that lived in
every age. Be not deceived. Take heed that
no man deceive you in whatever age. You see, this could be applied
to the Lord's people and certainly it includes the one in which
we live. There are so many. Listen, this
warning is as needful today as it was in the New Testament era.
This warning is very, very needful. We know that, and I cannot imagine
a more needful warning, really, when you think of all the false
religion that there is in the world, when you think of all
of the butchers of souls that there is around us, when you
think of all of the isms, when you think of all of the deceitfulness
that there is in religion, and you think of all of those that
have a message, a word, have something that they're trying
to get people to believe and to accept. And we know that Satan
knows how easily men and women are deceived. And we must take
heed not to be deceived by men and also by false Christ. In verse 5, look at it. For many
shall come in my name. Say, I am Christ, and shall deceive
many. Beloved, there are going to be
many that are deceived. And the warning is, take heed
to yourself that no man shall deceive you. Now then, we know
that there are others that will turn away. and apostatize. And in verse 11, look at that.
And many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold. Because there's so much, so many
deceived, And so many false prophets and their effect upon men in
the world, because iniquity abounds, the love of many shall wax cold.
Many, many, many will have cold hearts. And do you ever labor
to keep your heart warm? Do you have to? I'll tell you
what I was thinking yesterday about how that oftentimes it
just appears that somebody has thrown a blanket on me and it's
soaked with ice cold water that they got out of the Missouri
River or some other place that had big chunks of ice floating
down and it wet this blanket and threw it on me. Because many,
many times we feel this coldness that comes upon us. And I think
it has a great deal to do with the demon activity that's all
around us in this world. And with all of the false religion
and all the lying on God that's going on. There are so many,
many false religionists in our day. And so we need to take heed
to ourselves. lest we be deceived. Keep your
nose in this book and study the word of God and continue to seek
the Holy Spirit's guidance as to what you believe and to what
you're going to stand on as the Lord's people. And then thirdly,
I think we must not expect to see the triumph of the gospel
and the kingdom of God until the great war is over. Now we
get discouraged in this world As the Lord's people and church
members get discouraged in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ,
they expect to see the fruit of their labors in this world.
All of us would like to have a little bit of reward in this
world. We'd like to see a little more
fruit, and we'd like to see something happen. Well, beloved, that's
not going to happen and we don't need to expect that we're going
to fully triumph and that there's going to be a reward for righteousness
in this world until that time comes when our Lord comes back
and when he brings with him his reward. His reward will be with
him in his hand. It'll be a reward of grace. to
those that have been faithful, and then they'll receive the
commendation of our Lord. You've been faithful in a few
things, I'll make you ruler over much. The Lord's people must
persevere in times when it seems as though maybe they weren't
actually accomplishing very much, but they must persevere on and
expect the triumph of the Lord. Now then, the fourth thing I
see is, that ye be not troubled, Jesus said. See that ye be not
troubled, for all these things must come to pass. Now there
are many, many things that are happening in the world that we
can't explain. But there are heresies, there
are troubles, there's temptation. Jesus said these must come. And
in the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 11 and 19, it says that there
must therefore be heresies among you that they which are approved
may be made manifest. Other words, when there's heresies
among us, when there's somebody that comes up with an idea that's
foreign to the Word of God, when they're speaking but they have
no light in them, and when they're trying to tell you something
that's contrary to the Word of God, then, beloved, you say,
well, The Lord has allowed this, that they which are approved,
that they which are standing in the truth, that those who
believe the truth, that it might be manifest, who is and who isn't
standing in the truth. And so these things must come
to pass. And these things come by the
hand of God, according to the will of God, to prove who are
the people of God. And then, fifthly, I think we
must endure all these things in faith. We must continue to
look to the Lord Jesus. And whatever happens, whatever
comes, whatever we experience as a church, we must continue
on in faith. Look at verse 13. And this gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations. And then shall the end come. But beloved, we've got to keep
on preaching, don't we? Just keep on preaching the word. Keep
on testifying of the grace of God. Keep on exalting our Lord. Keep on lifting up the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ before the eyes of sin-blinded men and
women. preaching Christ and Him crucified. And when the gospel is fully
preached and there's a witness of it unto all nations, and our
Lord can only be the judge of that. I've read where that some
say, well, that's already happened. That's already happened. The
gospel has already been preached. That the gospel was preached
in all the known world in the first century. But beloved, our
Lord will have to be the judge of when this is coming to pass.
I couldn't judge when the gospel has been witnessed to in all
the nations of the earth. I could not do that. I don't
have the ability, and I don't know of any other person that'd
be a proud fool to say that the gospel has been preached everywhere.
If it had been, then the end would be here today. the end
would come. And so I'm talking about we must
live in faith and continue on to preach and be faithful to
our God and quit asking so many questions. Now then, beloved,
in the sixth place, we must learn to look upon this world and everything
in it like scaffolding to a building. Now this is so important for
us to see. This world exists only for the building of God's
church and kingdom. Like scaffolding, it must come
down once the building is complete. Now that's the reason this whole
world stands. It stands because God is using
this world as a place to gather out his people. We said a few
weeks ago that our Lord, by the Holy Spirit, cuts out his people
out of the mass of the sons of Adam. And this world is being
used by God. And when God's purpose is done,
the scaffolding will come down. That'll be the end of the world.
And we must look at this world just like that. that it's a tool
that God is using. It's a place where the Lord is
going to have his own and call out his own. And so it's our
duty and our privilege to preach the gospel in all the world.
And this 14th verse is a verse that has been a blessing to me,
and I think it's done something to encourage me to go forward
and to be about this business of preaching the gospel in our
day, in our time, and not to be so wrapped up trying to figure
out when all this stuff coming to pass. We've got a duty, we've
got a responsibility, and we must get to it. Now then, I want
us to look a little bit, our time has gotten away from us,
But there's about three things here that I want to show you
that when the Lord comes, that is going to be similar. to the
way it was in the days of Noah. And I want us to think about
this as to kind of to challenge our hearts a little bit before
we close this meeting this morning. The Lord means for us to understand
that there are three things that will characterize the world in
the end time. And these three things were characteristic
of the world in Noah's day, in the days of our Lord's earthly
ministry, and in our day. And in these three things, the
world is characterized and will be characterized in the day when
the Lord Jesus comes back. Number one, the world is now
and forever has been and forever shall be absorbed in carnal,
sensual pursuits. Now, we read here where that,
as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of
the coming of the Son of Man. Now, beloved, there's nothing
wrong with eating and drinking. We have to eat and drink to live. There's nothing wrong with marrying
and being given in marriage. Nothing wrong with that. The
Bible says that marriage is honorable and all and the bed undefiled.
There's nothing wrong with marriage, nothing wrong with eating, but
when men and women who possess immortal souls live only to gratify
themselves with the carnal pleasures of this earth, they live as fools,
they live as brute beasts, and do not be so foolish yourself. That which is perfectly lawful
in normal circumstances becomes a positive evil and a snare when
it keeps us from seeking and knowing and serving our Lord
Jesus Christ. Woe unto those whose eating and
drinking do not include the bread and water of life. who marry
or are given in marriage, but not to the heavenly bridegroom,
Charles Spurgeon said. So beloved, those men and women
in this world who gradually allow the things of this world to become
the primary concern of their hearts, The Bible says where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6
and 21. Where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. Nothing in this world is more
destructive of men's souls than love of the world. Love of the
world. Love not the world. So beloved, just as men were
in the days of Noah, They are so now. Their desire is toward
the things of time and sense. Their desire is to partake of
this world and to have what this world has to offer, not knowing,
being ignorant in themselves. That's exactly how it was when
God brought the flood in Noah's day upon the world of the ungodly. Now the second characteristic
of the world is that it's totally oblivious to eternal and spiritual
things. And that's the way it was in
Noah's day. Both religious people and irreligious
people, the moralist as well as the libertine, all are alike. They're ignorant of the things
of God. And the Lord will come back. You, where do you stand? Are you naturally unconcerned
about heaven and hell, immortality, judgment, the glory of God, just
unconcerned? You don't have any regard for
those things? You know we're going to live
somewhere for all eternity. And are we concerned about where
we're going to live? Are we concerned about the fact
that when the Lord comes, there'll be no time for repentance. There'll
be no time to change our ways. There will be no time to seek
the Lord. There will be no time we shall
not escape. The judgment of God will come
upon us. Now, the third thing that I think
is characteristic of this generation as it was in Noah's day, that
though the gospel shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations, the vast majority of those who hear are guilty
of despising what they hear. Now, in our day and time, if
you are a true witness of the gospel of the grace of God, You
can sense it if you're in a room, you start talking to people about
how God saves sinners, about the hope that is set forth in
the Word of God for believing sinners. If you begin to talk
up the Word of God and the need for a man or woman to seriously
take what the Word of God says and apply it to their heart,
to their souls, you'll quickly discern that men and women are
not listening to what you're saying. They're not hearing what
you're saying. And Noah preached in his day
for 120 years. And every time the hammer hit
building the ark, there was a message that went forth. God's going
to judge this world. God's going to bring judgment.
And there's going to be a flood that's going to come. And the
flood's going to come up. The waters are going to come
up. And they're going to lift this ark They're going to lift
it. And the skeptics and the scoffers,
they would say, how could such a thing be? We got no time for
that old man. We got no time for his foolishness.
We got no time for his message about judgment to come. No, no. But beloved, the same is true
today. We preach the gospel. We tell men and women they can't
save themselves. We tell men and women that they
must be saved by God's grace. Grace alone through faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We tell them that they must be
separated from sin. Separated unto God in Christ.
And they laugh at you. They don't know anything about
what you're talking about. And they despise the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But listen to me now. The purpose
of God is going to stand. It's going to stand. God's elect
will be saved. God's people will be saved. They will hear the gospel. But in the last days, as in Noah's
day, God's elect shall be few. They'll be few. Do you know that
Noah, that there was eight souls that were saved in that ark,
and all the rest of the world drownded in the floodwaters of
that day? That's exactly what happened.
And there's going to be few that are going to be saved, that are
going to hear the gospel with the inner ear. Many hear it with
the outer ear and laugh and scoff, but there's going to be very
few that hears it in that day. Well, the time has really gotten
away from me. I want to say a little bit about the Great Separation.
That's going to come there in verses 40 through 44. But just
in a nutshell, I want to just sum it up quickly and to say
that when our Lord comes back, there's going to be a separation
between the godly and the ungodly. God is going to take up his people.
They're going to be caught up. And those that have died in Christ,
they're going to come out of their graves. and they're going
to be forever with the Lord. And when the Lord comes, His
believers that are still here, those that are still in this
earth, mixed up with the sons of Adam, working and torrelling
on this earth, the Lord's going to snatch them away. They're
going to be caught away, and the ungodly be left. Oh, the
blessedness of being caught up to be forever with the Lord,
and oh, the misery of being left left here in this world never
to have an opportunity to escape, never have an opportunity to
come to know the Lord and to have your sins forgiven and have
them blotted out. But praise be unto God, you know
There's something that I read here and and it's it's it's a
blessing to me in verse 43 But know this that if the good man
of the house had no one in what watch the thief would come he
would have watched and would not have suffered his house to
be broken up and You know over there in Thessalonians that we
read here at the outset of our message this morning he said
that yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh
as a thief in the night. But if the good man of the house
would have known what hour the thief was coming, he'd have stayed
home. He'd have cocked his Smith and
Wesson. He would have stayed home. He
would have protected his goods. He wouldn't allow anything to
have happened to his goods. And brethren, if we knew what
hour to come, well, he's coming as a thief in the night. that's
when he's going to come as a thief in the night and therefore you
must be ready and the question is this are you ready? are you ready? are you ready
when the Lord shall come? I could narrate a hymn along
those lines about being ready when the Lord comes