I invite you to turn to Matthew chapter 24. If you're visiting, we're working through the Gospel of Matthew, and has anyone counted the sermons? Does anyone know what number we're on? I kind of doubt it, but we're on a big number. So anyways, number 20 it's a big number. Matthew chapter 24. I invite you to turn to page 986, and this is, we're going to be looking at verses 29. Actually, well, read at verse 29 to the end of the chapter. It's verse 32. And this whole section through chapter 25 has one great theme, and it is readiness readiness, readiness of his people for what is to come.
Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord immediately. Verse 29: "After the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the son of man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
From the fig tree learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see all these things, you know that he is near at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the son of man. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
But know this: that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give him their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drink with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and he will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
We'll end the reading of God's Word there.
Well, I think you felt as we read that passage how heavy this text is in terms of Jesus's intent to make us a ready people for his coming. Would you expect anything different? Knowing that the judgment is to come and what is to happen, he wants his people ready. But as we go on in the world, and as you notice there's so much going on in the world, Have you ever thought about the sort of psychological effect of that on you? All the problems, all the turmoil, what all this means, all the things that go on, the news reports and new challenges all the time that are shocking, and we don't know what's coming next.
At the AGR Dinner Dessert Fellowship last night, we considered AI and the challenges that are coming with that, which no one really knows or is prepared for. But one of the crucial emphases of our Lord is that so many in this life, willingly often, are unable to discern the sign of the times. It's all over his ministry. It's all over the way that he spoke, how he combated people. "Hypocrites, you can discern the weather all the time. You talk about the weather, but how is it that you do not discern the sign of the times?"
So that means people will just not take in the events that are happening in history and, looking at the very hard things that are happening in the world, and they will not think about it in correct terms. They will not understand it willfully. And Jesus was constantly combating this. He wants to remind us that history is moving to an end. That this is not the end all of just living here forever. This is not the goal. This is not what we say the end of it all. And he wants to press us on that point by saying, "Everything that you see happening in the world, all the stuff that troubles you about our nation, all the things that you see happening in catastrophe, all the things that really trouble you about the instabilities of life, are telling you something. They're communicating very importantly one great truth: an end is coming. It's not meant to go this way. An end is coming to all this."
And the surprising thing about this, that against all of this Jesus observed, many live in this life, loosely connected to Christianity, never taking it that seriously, who live thinking, "This will always go on as it always has. We'll figure it out. Humanity's progressing. We're getting better. We'll solve the problems." That is what AI is promising. So they really don't believe that history is moving to a final judgment. Jesus is saying, "I want you to rethink. Change your world. Rethink about all this. Look at the things that are going on and start processing them correctly. It's saying the end is coming soon. So we don't be want to be those who ignore this with the whole attitude and disposition that just prevails in this chapter as Jesus goes in this particular section of just eat and drink and be merry that's what life is all about And so before us, Jesus really is giving us some of the most practical instruction in all the bible really it's intensely practical about being ready.
And he's not doing this (this is the challenging part if you know that in any given situation you have many people living this way who are not ready, he's going to challenge people this way. And at the same time, the goal is not to scare his people to death. It is that to comfort us that we are not going to be, taken away in judgment but that we are going to be as was promised in a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness shall dwell. With him.
So this is the sort of outline of Matthew chapter 24, where it moves. And this morning, the Lord wants us to have this to have a very important effect on us to live believing he's coming soon. And that's not a burden to live that way. That is the best way to live. And this is the heart of this. You almost get the sense that when it comes to the great tribulations that we have in this life, people are not taking to heart what they're saying to us.
And so notice here that Jesus says, in verse 35, a crucial statement that I think is really central to this chapter that he is really pressing on people because he knows how people think and he knows that certain people will just tune this out. "Oh, there goes the judgment thing again." I mean, that's certain attitudes. But he said, "Don't do that. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." What he's saying is, "What I'm saying is true. It will come to pass. It will happen." So he wants us to consider his word carefully.
The intention is to guide us. Let me say that up front: the intention of this passage is not to leave us outside the kingdom. The intention is pastoral. The intention is to guide us. The intention is to preserve us. The intention is hear me clearly the intention of this text is to deliver us from the judgment to come so our lord wants us to look at the things that are happening, and he says there are certain ways you can be ready. And you'll notice in this passage he talks about being active and in service in the kingdom. I want us to consider his words here this morning: the certainty of his words, the certainty of his coming, and the certainty of the final judgment.
Now we spent some time in Matthew chapter 24. It is indeed a complex chapter. It's a somewhat difficult chapter to navigate because there's apocalyptic things going on, history is condensed in short statements, and it's led to challenges to know exactly how to read it and understand it. But but you'll remember the context is from chapter 23, where he had pronounced seven woes on false religion of people the Pharisees. And remember, he said shot in a shocking manner that the temple will be utterly destroyed. By the way, his word came to pass. It was leveled in AD 70. It is not here to this day. Already, he's proven his word. The destruction of the temple was, a for them, catastrophic and monumental moment in their history as a people. We can't get into the minds of them very easily to understand how shocking a proposition this is that the old order would be done away with, the temple would be destroyed, and they hadn't understood yet the gospel would go out to all the nations. That's why we're here. That's what's happened. And so when they heard the temple's coming down, they just panicked. "Well, what do you mean by that?" They come to him and ask two questions. They asked him the questions that that they didn't separate, but we know brought about a time period in between their fulfillment: "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" And preceding that, they asked, "When will these things be?"
So there, they heard him say the temple will fall. They fall apart, and they they conclude that's got to be the end of the world. And Jesus begins to describe, in verses 4 through 14, uh the times that will characterize the mark the whole period in this age. Now remember, um, God had a plan from the beginning, promised to Abraham, that he would evangelize the nations with the gospel. So that old order had to come down. The temple had to fall. Imagine if the temple let's put it this way, imagine if that temple were still raised today. How many people would think the only way you can truly worship God is by heading over to Israel? And he said, "That's not how it's going to be. True worshipers worship him, not on this mountain or that mountain, but in spirit and in truth." They didn't understand this yet. So we have to look at it from where they are in history, but also from what we know would happen with the destruction of the temple.
So verses 4 through 14 gave a series of plural you will signs that mark our age: deception, wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes in various places. These are all birth pains of life like a woman in giving a child. When the birth pains and contractions hit, it's moving to the birth of the child, which you don't remember anymore once you've had the child all the pain of that. That's this life. That's this age.
And then in verses 15 through 28, he describes their first question: "When will these things be which were the destruction of the temple, the abomination of desolation, where the temple would be profaned and would be thrown down by the Romans. And Jesus wanted that event to be a teaching tool through which the final to understand how the final judgment would come. And then he answered their question that the sign will be his actual coming on the clouds of heaven. The second question third question the sign will be his actual coming. We will see him come with great power and glory. Uh, as Acts said, he will return the same way. The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then what's going to happen is a great separation. He is going to gather his elect from the four winds, and we will forever be with the Lord.
Now, all that leads us to where we are. Jesus says, "Yeah, but that's this means there's an important lesson to learn in all this: a lesson from the fig tree." That was an important tree in Israel. Every season, they knew that certain things in nature taught them that seasons are coming. So see, see how he's wired this in even to nature the coming of seasons. the change of seasons He wired this in to teach us this. When you look at a tree the fig tree particularly and you see those little tender shoots and branches coming. well what do you know Summer's coming. summer's coming
Now, I I pondered this this week and i thought it's interesting. He didn't say, "When you see those leaves falling off and dialing dying, you know that winter's coming, fall is coming." He frames it positively. We all know this. It's an exciting time when there's fresh bulbs and leaves are on plants and trees. And it means, It marks something It marks something that a new season has come upon us. It's something fresh. It's a new beginning that is coming. And he wants us to think about life this way.
I remember in Linden, when we lived there, it was rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain for nine months. And then all of a sudden you'd see these little bulbs. And then every guy was outside with his shirt off getting skin cancer for the next two months because it was awful, those nine months of rain. Life. It changes. And I think Jesus wants us to look at life this way. To contemplate things. To contemplate changing of seasons. And the Psalms capture this: "Sorrow comes in the night. Joy comes in the morning." This is life. It's a kind of excitement about new beginnings. He's coming to bring this: a brand new heavens and earth where righteousness shall dwell.
Think about that. No more sorrow. No more death. No more sin. No more suffering. No more tears. No more crying. No more pain. We can't even really imagine it. That's what's promised. And the whole New Testament pushes us to this. You're forward moving. You're never backward moving. He puts his hand on the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom. It's a forward-moving kingdom. We're moving there. We're going there. It's an upward calling. See, it's pushing us to this.
But his concern is pastoral. His concern is that to learn from these things that soon this age will end. And that's the way to get through the hardship, by the way. If you are in one of the sorrows of life right now, you know terrible things happen, hard things happen. And what you feel in the midst of that is "nothing will ever change." But the promise of Christ is "it will." It will. That in the face of death and sorrow and great distress, these things are not ends in themselves. No, no, no. They're leading us somewhere. They're pushing us somewhere. Like a woman in birth pain. That's not the end. Jesus says they forget all those pains once they brought forth the child. the joy of bringing forth the child. And he says, "That's how I want you to look at history. That's how I want you to look at the sorrows of this age."
And he applies this to what he knew would be a great sorrow for them. "Truly, truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things takes place." He knows how big and catastrophic a thing and sorrow it will be to have their nation tore down and their temple ripped down. He's thinking about their great sorrow. And the destruction of the temple they're going to live through that and this becomes a compressed statement of all of life. That all of us are going to live through these kinds of things. This generation will face things that are appointed for this generation. It's compressed history here. There are things appointed for this generation. And the reality is: summer's coming. Summer's coming. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word is not passing away."
It's so beautiful, and you see the encouragement in that. You see the awful things. They tell you what's passing away. But what is certain is my words are certain and will come to pass.
Now his concern is this today: that many don't think about this in life at all. And since he has not told us precisely when the day will be, Jesus is speaking his humanity here. That's a mystery to us. In his humanity, nobody knows the day nor the hour, not even the Son of Man. Since we're not told this, the driving concern is, since it's not disclosed, many will live as if it's never coming. You see the concern here?
Here's what I think's happened. Here's what I think's happened in our time. We've seen so many sorrows and things escalating so quickly, so many evils. Here's what begins to happen in people: they just live numb to it all. Think of the perfect example I think is 9-11 I was in seminary at the time And I remember the devastation and then I remember driving around escondido and i saw American flags everywhere. It was really fascinating. It seemed to awaken the consciousness of the nation to, you know, make us united, and to realize there are greater enemies out there than what we're fighting against ourselves. How long did that last? Problem after problem after problem after problem. And then COVID. And you say, "I think Jesus knows very well that the challenge of living in the midst of all this is he's concerned that people will become so used to all these sorrows and, not think about the sorrows, that they will live as if this is never coming."
And this is one of at this point one of the most important paradigms that he gives us for how to live life and to think about what it will be like when he comes. You know what he says? "It'll be just like the days of Noah." You kind of got to pause and say, "What was that like? What were the days of Noah?"
Well, if you study sort of before the flood, wickedness escalated on the earth. Men begin to multiply on the face of the earth population explosion. It's fascinating. You know, this is the biggest population explosion the world has ever seen. What we're living since 1900 to now is unbelievable. "The evil intents of the thoughts of the heart were only evil continually. The heart was only evil continually," Genesis 6. God tells Noah to build an ark, preach the gospel. He was a preacher of the gospel, righteousness. And he called that generation to repentance and faith.
And Jesus says, "But here was the attitude. The attitude was, in Noah's day, eat, drink, and just be merry. That's what life's about. And then one day the ark door closed because the rain came. And it came. And it fell. When it first fell, everyone thought, "Oh, storm's here. It's going to be stormy today." And it washed them all away, says Jesus. And he says, "That will be just like the period before he comes. A faithless life in people."
You could ask, "Do you really believe he could come today?" And all the worries of life and what everyone's talking about and all the concerns of life, Do we ever even think about this? That's why this is important for you. You see why? The word is important for you. Do you think life is just about eating and drinking and being merry and making money and living life to the fullest and never considering what's most important about your life? They lived thinking, "There's no end. It'll always go on."
And because of that, the picture you get in the New Testament, is comparing it with the days of noah is that it was a life of complete ease a life of always going on, everyone wrapped up with the world. They did not live thinking there was a finality to this. They did not ever think there could be a judgment. And that's the message all but absent in the church today. You never hear it. You never hear it. What have we done? Total carelessness marked life. And then the rain came.
Apocryphal history is that all the people gathered around the ark, hundred thousand strong, and begged to get in. Jesus says, "This is how it'll go when he comes. Two men will be in a field: one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one taken, the other left."
See? It's it's business as usual, right to the end. Everyone's working. That's really important, I think, to say today. Seed time and harvest goes on. It's business as usual right up until the end. The world is not Christianized, by the way. post millennialism is out. The fact is, Jesus saying it's going to come when people least expect it. There will be separations. Some will be carried away to judgment. That's the imagery here. They're taken not us.
But I want to emphasize the pastoral concern of Jesus here. Why would you do this, right? Here's where you really see what he's after. You think of the Exodus as they're eating the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. How did he say to eat it? Standing up. Be ready to go. It was always taught throughout history. And beloved, that's how he wants us to be. Ready to go. And when you can have that confidence to know that Jesus loves you, and you're justified by faith, what a way to live. I'm still working on it, but it's important, isn't it?
Jesus says, "If you knew a thief were coming to get in your house tonight, what would you do? Well, he wanted to come in and break in. What would you do? Go to sleep? No, no, no, no. You'd be up awake, wouldn't you? And you'd be watching for this guy, and you'd prevent the thing from happening. Be ready," he says, "because I'm coming."
Now, I think that scares some people. But do you see the intention? Let me say, do you see the intention? This is good for us. The best message we could hear. If you saw your child playing on a cliff, think of how much attention and devotion we give to making sure our kids eat right and have the best education, and we give everything for them, and the best this and the best that. Best, best, best, best. You saw your kid playing next to a cliff. 5,000 foot drop. And then all his friends went over and played next to the cliff. Wouldn't you warn him? Wouldn't you say, "Son, get away from that cliff right now"? Of course you would. Because if they fall, they're gone.
Why is he telling us this? So that the day doesn't overtake us as a thief. That's the language. Remember, Paul says that. He applies Jesus to say, "He says, I don't want this day overtaking you as a thief "We are not of those who, brothers and sisters, we are not of those in darkness that this day should surprise you. See, that's how he thinks of you. You are children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then let us not be like others who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night. Those who get drunk get drunk at night."
Here's the importance of this. We live ready. I want to say this: you can always tell the readiness of people by their love and attitude and involvement in the church and the people of god your brethren. "Let us behave decently," says Paul, is in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual morality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh." It's all readiness.
And Jesus says, "But some are going to say, ah, master's delayed. He doesn't see me. He doesn't see what I'm doing. So he goes out and beats his servants, eats and drinks with the drunkards. Jesus says, he's going to come. And you're going to be totally off guard.
I thought this week, "Can you imagine? Last week, if Christ came during the Super Bowl in this country? On the Lord's Day?" One of our young people said to me, "My friends asked me to a big Super Bowl party. I said, I'm going to church tonight. It's the Sabbath. It's One of our young people. She was ridiculed. Did any of them think that Christ could have come that night as they were caught up in a commercial? Is that not fair?
And this is not some crazy dispensational teaching that if you get caught in some (or even Roman Catholic teaching), if you do some mortal sin as a believer, you're not going to enter. That is not what he's doing here. It's challenging us to be he's challenging us to be ready. On the day of Noah, eight entered the ark, and then a crushing judgment came. So don't play fast and loose with this. Believe. Trust him.
We live in a time when the message of judgment is lost in the church. But he just said, "My word stands."
Now, why is he telling this? Because, beloved, he wants to preserve you. He wants to protect you. He wants to keep you. He wants to preserve his people, and he will to the end. And our Lord is doing that. What was the effect this just had?
Now, if I, at all, by the power of the Spirit, was effective today it said, "I'm gonna look for my Savior." Good. Because he loves you, and he wants you to that's the word to receive with the intention and when it in which it comes. Summer's coming, right? Summer's coming. You see the branches?
Well, chapter 25 (for those who believe his word and trust his promises, his coming is a blessing). He will say to those on his right, "Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." But to those on his left in the separation, depart from me, you cursed, enter into the eternal judgment prepared for the devil and his angels."
The good shepherd says these things to you today to keep you. You have nothing to fear if you're in Christ. He came to die for you, and he's pretty jealous for you. Did you hear me? He's pretty jealous for his people. He loves his people. He's going to keep his people, he's going to save his people, And he's not going to lose one. And as Peter reminds us, "You are kept by the power of God. Heaven is reserved for you."
So look for it. Anticipate it. And remember your purpose and calling. "Blessed is that servant when his master comes who finds him so doing." He's active in service. He's loving his people. He's serving his people with a cold drink of water. That's in the next chapter. This is the blessedness, again, of what Luther said, "If I knew the Lord was coming tomorrow, I'd plant the tree today."
May you be blessed to know the Lord loves you and is keeping all of his people from falling off the cliff. So hear his words, be alert, beloved, and be ready. He is a gracious King to his people.
Let's pray. Lord, thank you for such words to us, and thank you for your help, and thank you for encouraging us. This word will stand forever, you say. And what is to come is certain. And so we trust you. We believe you. Thank you for forgiving all of our sins. And thank you for caring to make us a ready people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.