Luke, The Orderly Account of Truth - How to Be Ready for Christ's Return - Luke 21:25-38

How's it going great to see all of you?

And if this is your first time, welcome to the

roots where it's all about Jesus. We love God, we

love people, We reached lost, and we make disciples. Last Sunday,

something happened that I want to share with all of you.

Last Sunday, I was awoken by a chirping fire alarm

at about one a one twenty amish. And the reason

I got up because it wasn't going off, it was

just chirping. Gave me three little chirps. And the reason

I got out of bed, other than it waking me up,

is because my daughter right before bed said, is my

fan gonna catch on fire? And I said, it's not

gonna catch on fire, And so I had to just

make sure that that was still the case and that

I had not, in fact lied. So I got up

out of bed. Fan was fine, Everything was good. And

then I stood in the hallway because I was like, okay,

I beeped once, it's gonna beep again, And it did

beep again, but I couldn't which one it was right,

So I step further down the hallway. I go stand

in front of the COE detector. I'm like, maybe it's

that it doesn't beep again the rest of the night.

It's kind of weird, right, So anyways, I was like, well, okay,

well I can't figure out which one it is. I

pulled one down I was looking at it. I was like,

all right, whatever, can't figure this out. I'll figure this

out tomorrow. Maybe it's a battery thing. Replace them, I can.

I can check that later.

Check on the kids, and I go to go to bed, and.

All of a sudden, I hear the screen door front

door open, and someone start trying to open the handle,

start knocking on the door and then ring the doorbell.

And I didn't know what to do because I was

like one twenty. I was like, who would be at

my house?

And I was, Okay, it's way too late for anyone

to reasonably be trying to open my front door. And

so I go look out my kid's window and I

don't see anyone, and then I hear.

Someone going hello Hello.

So I try and go throw on clothes that are

better to answer the front door with, and then I

go check out the window one more time to see

if if they're still there.

If I can see anyone, and.

A man a young man just in sweatpants and no

t shirt walks down my front steps, walks in front

of my cars, up around the back of my house,

in which case I run and get my gun immediately

because I'm like, what he's going on.

I'm kind of starting to freak out.

Go in the front room, and now I'm like watching

back and forth, checking the windows to go, like if

they could go up the back porch. I call my

parents who live downstairs, who normally sleep with their window open,

and just like, hey, there's a guy.

Walking around our house. I don't know what's up with that.

My parents come upstairs, my mom calls the police. Kind

of long story short. While we're waiting for them, the

guy ends up walking back into the front of our

house and kind of playing with our mailboxes. He does

not seem necessarily in the right set of mind, and

he starts wandering all of our neighbors houses. Please finally

show up spotlight down the street, and they almost missed them.

He like, literally all the cops they went to this

side of the street, and I saw him come out

of the shadows from the other side of one of

the houses, and I was like, so my dad went

out there and told the cops.

He's like, he's over there.

So anyways, they cuffed him, took him away, and my

dad was like, he asked me, He's like, were you

were you awake?

Like why were you? Were you just still up? Had

you not gone to bed yet?

I said, the Lord woke me. The Lord woke me,

and I actually do kind of believe that I'm not

kidding his deal. It didn't beep after that. I think

I think it was this last Wednesday. We're just like, hey,

it finally beeped. It hadn't beaped.

It didn't beeped the rest of the night. It beaped.

It woke me up.

It came as quite adrenaline rush as you can imagine,

to have someone try to enter your house unexpectedly at

one am. I'm just asleep. Yeah, just just just challenge.

She didn't know what was going on. I told him.

I was like, I don't even if should wake her

and tell her. Maybe we could just wait for tomorrow.

That'd be okay, just say hey, just so you know,

someone tried to break in the house. Tomorrow, It's all good,

you know. No, So I did wake her up and

just say, hey, this is what's happening. Everything's dealt with.

But that had all been dealt with, so it was good.

She's like, you should wake me up. I'm like, I

guess that does make sense, but I have had a

harder time going to sleep now, just at night time.

You know what I mean? You think you you're just like, okay,

like nothing happened, so it should be fine.

I already am kind of like.

I don't know, I don't know what proper word to use,

but I already checked the locks in my house a

good unreasonable amount of times at nighttime. I'm like doing

laps and I'm.

Like, did I really see that it was locked?

Well, now I'm doing that even worse. And it's a

good thing. It's a good thing because I made sure

that it's locked. But it's I don't know, it's just

weird because the fire alarm didn't beat the rest of

that evening, but it beatt at the perfect time to

wake me up, to have me ready for when someone

tried to open my front door and wander our property.

I probably would have willken up to the doorbell, but

then I would have been even less ready. Right, I

was already awake and alert because of that fire alarm. Now,

in today's text, I believe we're gonna see something very similar.

It was timely, it was a timely event. I was like,

I have my illustration. Kind of a weird way to

go about this, but I'll take it. Lord. In today's text,

I believe we're gonna see something very similar because Jesus

is going to finish telling his disciples of the warning

signs that will come before Jerusalem's destruction. He's going to

tell them about the signs to come and how when

they see those warning signs to straighten up, to keep alert,

and to stay awake so that they're ready for those

things that are drawing near. So let's read our text

for today. We're gonna pray and then jump into it.

We're gonna find ourselves in the twenty first chapter of

the Gospel of Luke. So if you turn there with me.

If you do not have a Bible, please go grab one.

We have some out on the resource desk for you

to take. And just a reminder, we'll go into this

a little bit more after we read and pray. But

where we're starting in the text is a portion that

we split up. Jesus is in the middle of teaching,

and we split his teaching into two messages because there's

so much to cover and we just want to be

able to actually go through it pretty thoroughly. So I

just wanted to remember that we're in the middle of

him teaching.

We literally starts with the word am.

So anyways, we're looking at the tail end and conclusion

of what he has been teaching to his disciples.

Hopefully that was enough time to give you to turn

there with me.

We're gonna be starting in verses verse twenty five, it says,

and there will be signs in sun and moon and stars,

and on the earth, the stress of nations and perplexity

because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,

people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is

coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens

will be shaken, and then they will see the Son

of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now,

when these things begin to take place, straighten up and

raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. And

he told them a parable look at the fig tree,

and all the trees, as soon as they come out

in leaf, you see for yourselves, and know that the

summer is already near. So also when you see these

things take place, you know that the Kingdom of God

is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will

not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and

earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

But watch yourself lest your hearts be weighed down with

dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life. And that

day come upon you suddenly like a trap, for it

will come upon all who dwell on the face of

the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying

that you have enough strength to escape all these things

that are going to take place, and to stand before

the sun of man. And every day he was teaching

in the temple, but at night he went out and

lodged on the mount, called all of it, and early

in the morning all the people came to him in

the temple to hear him. This is God's word. Let

us pray.

Lord, we lift up this time and your word to you.

We just ask that as the seed is sown, that

you would give the growth that you would produce in

us whatever you would intend, and hope for your word

to produce in us. And we just asked that we

would look more like you, that we would be more

ready for you, and we'd be more ready to be

used by you because of your word today, Lord God,

so help.

It to equip us to be who you've called us

to be.

And we give you this time to your glory and

Jesus name, everyone said a man. So we're currently in

a series titled Luke The Orderly Account of Truth, where

we've been following the closely investigated account of Jesus's life

and ministry, all with the hopes that our faith and

assurance of the things that we've been taught about Jesus

would be strengthened and confirmed.

So we're finding ourselves today at the tail.

End of the text where Jesus has been answering a

question that his disciples asked him.

That's very important for us to remember. He's answering a question.

Now. I want to say, if you were not here

last week, I have very important instructions for you. If

you were not here last week, go listen to Pastor

Greg's message last week. It was incredible, it was fantastic.

This is not for him, this is just for you.

This is a good thing for you that you get

to learn a lot of the history, and he did

a good job. Just too clear, but like for you guys,

it is a good thing to have this background and

information because as we're going to see today, this is

kind of part two to a continued thought that Jesus

was teaching, So definitely go do that. Greg got to

walk through the history was really really cool. But for

a quick refresher, Jesus has finally arrived at Jerusalem. When

he arrived, he was met with joy and praise from

the people, but he himself wept because he knew what

would happen to Jerusalem.

After that, he spent the.

Next couple of days rebuking the leaders of Israel in

teaching those around him. Now, finally Jesus overhears some people

speaking about how magnificent the temple was with its offerings

and how it.

Was adorned with noble stones.

But Jesus says to them, as for these things that

you see, the days will come when there will not

be left here one stone upon another that will not

be thrown down, to which the disciples ask, when will

these things be and what will be the sign that these.

Things are about?

To take place. That's their question, when is this going

to happen, and what's the sign that these things are

about to take place.

So Jesus then warns them.

About many, that there's gonna be many people who come

in his name to try and lead others astray, and

Jesus says, don't follow those false teachers, don't go after them.

Then they're going to hear about wars and rumors, but

that that is only the beginning.

He tells them.

Nations will rise against one another, famines, diseases, signs from heaven,

he says. But before all of that, you will be

persecuted and delivered up to the authorities, even by members

of your own family.

But then or but that, when they are delivered, that.

He is going to give them words to speak so

as to use those persecutions as an opportunity for spreading

the gospel. He then tells them that when they see

Jerusalem so surrounded by armies, not to do what people

normally do, which is run to the castle, run to

the walled city. He says, don't flee. Don't go to

the city behind to try and find safety behind its walls,

but instead flee to the hills because Jerusalem's end has come.

Then when all these things happen, these signs will find

their culmination in the destruction of Jerusalem, where the city

will be destroyed and the people slaughtered and led captive

to other nations until the times of the Gentiles are complete.

It's where we left off last week. And now, like

I said, Pastor Greg did a fantastic job working through

all of this to simply continuing on why that's all

very important, sees Pastor Greg rightly showed how Jesus had

perfectly predicted it. Every single word of this came to

pass in eighty seventy when Jerusalem was surrounded by the

Roman armies who destroyed the city and threw down the

stones of the temple. Like we said, Jesus wasn't done speaking.

He actually still had a few more signs he was

going to cover, and then he was going to warn

and tell his disciples what they were to do when

they see these signs, so that by staying alert and ready.

So if you're taking notes, I titled today's message how

to be Ready for Christ's Return. How to be Ready

for Christ's Return. Now once again split this text up

because there's so much to cover. But not only that,

but because this last part that Jesus basically says has

been one of continued debate even to this day. And

what I mean by that is that there's just many

interpretations of what Jesus was talking about. People get to

this passage of scripture, well, Jesus is still in the

middle of a thought, still answering your question, and they

kind of go a bunch of different ways with it.

And so my hope for today is to stay as

faithful and close to the text as possible without getting weird.

That's my goal. So you can call me on it later,

talk about it.

I'll tell you you're being weird.

You tell me I'm being weird, and I'll be like, hey,

we're all kind of weird about this text anyways.

So it's fine. Many of us have grown up with

books or maybe movies about the end times all the

reasons we couldn't really fall asleep maybe as a young kid,

and some of those things have been derived from the

following texts.

But I believe, as.

We will see today, if we keep to the context

of what Jesus is saying, we're going to see that

he is still speaking about the judgment coming upon Jerusalem, although.

I believe.

That this text does serve and act as a shadow

for the final judgment that is to come, not just

for Jerusalem only, but for the entire earth at Jesus's

second and final coming. So as we jump into the

first part of a text, remember Jesus is still speaking

about the signs to come, and we're gonna start in

verse twenty five, he says, and there will be signs

in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth,

distress of nations and perplexity because of the roaring of

the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and

with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For

the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then

they will see the Sun of Man coming in a

cloud with power.

And great glory.

Now, when we read that, I mean, it's not hard

to understand why we go like that kind of sounds

like the end of the world. We see that the

language almost sounds like that. But if we remember the context,

Jesus is still speaking to his eyes audience, answering the

question of when these things will be and what will

be the signs that they're about to take place now.

I think one of the reasons we read these texts

and think that they can mean no other than the

end of the world is because some of us may

just be unfamiliar with how the Bible can speak when

it's talking about judgment. In fact, it's not uncommon for

Scripture to speak like this in an end of the

world type language when we're referring to judgment on local entities,

and to give just a quick couple examples, Isaiah thirteen

we see almost the same, if not strikingly similar language

used when talking about the destruction of Babylon. You remember

Babylon's this incredibly great empire, but specifically city, and in

Isaiah thirteen, I encourage you to go read the entire thing.

In the middle of it, we get this section where

it says, starting verse nine, behold, the day of the

Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger, to make

the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will

not give their light. The sun will be dark at

its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.

I will punish the world for its evil, and the

wicked for their iniquity. I will put an end to

the pomp of the arrogant and lay low the pompous

pride of the ruthless. Once again, I encourage you to

go read the entire thing, because this language is all

over that chapter.

But specifically, this is right in the middle.

It starts with talking about, hey, this is about Babylon,

and it ends with this is talking about Babylon. But

in the middle you get this kind of crazy section

where you're like, oh, I've heard that before. And actually,

if you go look at Matthew's gospel, Matthew almost if

I'm correct, he uses actually just the same language, talking

about the stars not giving their light and stuff like that. So,

and we also see in Isaiah nineteen, verse one an

oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is writing on a

swift cloud and comes to Egypt, and the idols of

Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of

the Egyptians will melt within them. Now, the reason I

bring any of this up in the first place is

just it's not uncommon for colorful language to be used

to speak of these intense judgments coming upon a city

or a nation. And why this is relevant is because

that is exactly the context in which Jesus is still speaking.

He's still speaking about Jerusalem. He's still talking about Jerusalem.

He's still answering the question about Jerusalem. So let's look

at this text again and see the striking similarity back

in our Luke text.

And there will be signs and sun and moon and stars,

and on.

The earth, the stress of nations and perplexity because of

the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting

with fear and with foreboding of what's coming on the world.

For the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and

they will see the Son of Man coming in a

cloud with power and great glory. But then Jesus tells

his disciples what this means for them when they see

these signs. He says in verse twenty eight, Now, when

these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise

your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. And he

told them a parable look at the fig tree. In

all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf,

you see for yourselves and know that the summer is

already near. So also, when you see these things taking place,

you know that the Kingdom of God is near. He says,

when you see all these things, straighten up, raise your head,

and what those words mean are actually really fascinating.

I almost missed it. I almost skipped over it.

But when I was doing my study, I was like,

let me just make sure that those words mean what

I think that they mean in the Greek, because it says,

I have a translation right in front of me. But

when I actually went and looked it up, when it's

talking about straightening up, he's actually talking about in the

sense of being elated or exalt in your soul.

That your soul is to be elated and raised up.

And when it says raise your heads, it means to

raise your head on high from a timid, sorrowful, recovering spirit.

Well like it makes sense like your head is down

and he's saying, no, raise up your head like it's

more triumphing. He says, when these signs happen and all

the peoples are in dread and fear and confusion, you

are to be elated, overjoyed, thrilled that instead of discourage

you should live up, lift up your head in triumph.

These things that are coming that mean their destruction are

going to mean redemption is drawing near to you, and

that redemption is meant in the sense of the deliverance

from their persecutors, the deliverance from their enemies who have

been persecuting them. Like he's like last week we saw

he told them what was going to happen. He gives

a parable of the fig tree, showing them that when

it's leaves come out, you know that summer is near.

And so also when you see these things, Jus tells

his disciples that you can know that the Kingdom of

God is near. Now.

Something that's interesting here is we don't always.

As regards Luke, as regards reading the Bible, sometimes we

just forget what we've read beforehand, right, But if we

were to read Luke all at one time, I think

we'd pick up on some interesting themes that were consistent

throughout it. But for us it might have been months

ago since we actually covered it here in the series.

Because the kingdom was something that Jesus had already earlier

in Luke told his disciples that they could expect to

see come Luke nine twenty seven. But truly, or but

I tell you truly, there are some standing here who

will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God. More,

Matthew It says it even more strikingly similar sense to

our text, where he says, truly, I say to you,

there are some standing here who will not taste death

until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

So now Jesus is here in Jerusalem, saying that when

you see these signs and all these things pertaining to

Jerusalem's destruction, know that your deliverance and the kingdom is near.

But Jesus is also earlier in Luke, been asked a

question about when the Kingdom will show up, he tells

those that ask him that it was not coming in

a way that can be physically observed. See this in

Luke seventeen. Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom

of God would come, he answered them, the Kingdom of

God is not coming in ways that can be observed,

Nor will they say, look here it is, or there behold,

or for behold, the Kingdom of God is in the

midst of you. So Jesus tells them, when you see

these signs, know that the Kingdom of God is near.

And to wrap up the section, Jesus tells them when

this will happen, because that was the other part of

the disciples question. They asked when will these things be

and what will be their sign that they're about to

take place? And Jesus tells them when luke or or

verse thirty two, because truly, I say to you, this

generation will not pass away until all has taken place.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will

not pass away. Jesus says, these things are sure to happen,

and they will take place within this generation. And in

Jewish culture, our generation was about forty years and Jesus, speaking,

having started his ministry around thirty a d. And now

teaching his disciples in our text here around thirty three eighty,

says that this generation will not pass away until all

these things take place, and within that generation, within that time,

the destructure of Jerusalem did happen. Jesus was telling the truth.

And I think this is important because I believe Jesus

wasn't being cryptic to those he was speaking to. He

wasn't being cryptic. He just told them straight up. We

can literally look at history books and go like.

Yeah, checks out. He said it was going to happen,

and it did.

And I believe he was telling them plainly to answer

their question, which is when will this happen? And what

are the signs? Jesus had already taught beforehand that this

generation was going to be judged for not only its wickedness,

but it would receive the wrath and judgment for Israel's

generations of rebelliousness.

We see that in Luke eleven, verse forty four.

Woe to you, for you build the tombs of the

prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses, and

you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they

killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore, also the

wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles,

some of whom they will kill and persecute, so that

the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation

of the world may be charged against this generation, from

the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who

perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell

you it will be required of this generation. But not

only that, But if you remember in Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus,

who is the one true prophet of God was delivered

to Pilot to be crucified. Pilot, finding nothing wrong with Jesus,

washes his hands and tells the people, I'm innocent of

this man's blood. I don't see anything wrong with him.

And do you remember what the crowds say? They say,

his blood be on us and our children. Jesus had

laid out in this entire text and a figurious speech,

the world ending judgment for the people of Israel, where

nothing would ever be the same. As Pastor Greg spoke

of last week, this great judgment and destruction brought upon

Jerusalem and the Temple marked the official end of the

First Covenant, that no longer could you worship God or

offer sacris at the Temple. God had ended his first

covenant because he had given us a new covenant in

Christ's blood. Now we are the Temple of the Living God.

That our entire lives are to be lived as living

sacrifices and offered in worship. In all of this because

of the New Covenant, where we're not saved by works,

but by the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. Jesus

was warning the disciples of when God will put an

end to the age of the First Covenant and firmly

established the age of the New Covenant. He tells them

to what happened in their generation and to watch for

the signs of its coming. And in eighty seventy what

Jesus spoke of came to pass. But now that Jesus

had told them, he gives them further instruction for what

they're to.

Do in the in between time.

Now, many years ago, I was with my family and

I was pretty young. All my siblings were pretty young,

and we were in Portland visiting my dad's side of

the family, and we were leaving my aunt and uncle's

home to drive home in the evening, and it's about

a two hour drive, and my uncle told one of

my siblings, he said, do not fall asleep.

In the car.

Do not fall asleep in the car, Like, okay, whatever, harmless. Sure,

for the two hour drive home, they didn't fall asleep

in the car. Now, several weeks later, my parents, who

routinely like to take us on car drives to like

car naps and stuff like that, had to call my

uncle because in the last several weeks that sibling had

refused to fall asleep even once in the car, and

so my parents had to call my uncle and say,

you need to tell them that it's okay to go

to sleep, that they can in fact sleep in the car.

And now Jesus tell his disciples that with the long

road ahead, that they themselves should not fall asleep, that

they should not become distracted, but in fact that they

should stay awake and alert, ready for all.

These things to come to pass.

He says this in verse thirty four, but watch yourselves

lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation. And that's

that word right there, literally means like nausea from drinking

too much, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation

and drunkenness and cares of light of this life. And

that day come upon you suddenly like a trap, for

it will come upon all who dwell on the face

of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times,

praying that you may have strength to escape all these

things that are going to take place, and to stand

before the sun a man. So what is you saying here, Well,

he's warning them to stay vigilant that as they wait,

to not be caught up and drunkness that doles the

mind doles the senses to not be caught up in

life and lose your awareness of the things that are coming,

so then to have them show up as a surprise

and you be caught like it's a trap. Pastor Gregg's

message last week was called heed the heads Up because

Jesus is literally doing that.

He's giving them a.

Heads up of what is to come so that they

can stay prepared for it to show up. He says,

don't let this day come upon you like a surprise.

He says that day is sure to come upon everyone,

but you are to stay awake and alert, praying that

you may have strength to escape all these things. Because

once again he's given them the instruction, you see these

things showing up, get out of the city, make sure

that you have the strength and are praying that you

have the strength to escape all of these things and

to stand before the Son of Man. So he gives

them a heads up to stay alert so that they

can escape what's coming, but also to then go through

whatever they are going to go through in such a

way that they can then stand upright before the Lord.

Jesus had told them not only what was going to happen,

but also how to be ready when all these things come.

So after Jesus finished answering them, Luke tells us that

Jesus left the city to go where he had been

staying for thirty seven and every day he was teaching

in the temple, but at night he went out and

lodged on the mountain called all of it, and early

in the morning all the people came to him in

the temple to hear him. And I need the band

to come up please now. As much as I believe

that Jesus here was speaking to his disciples about the

things to take place in their generation, and how he's

seen that it did come to pass in the time

Jesus said that it would, I think if we left

it at just that we'd be like cool history, sweet,

awesome Jesus still awesome.

Jesus says that was going to happen, it did happen.

Sounds like the Jesus I know.

But I think if he left it at that, we

would be missing the deeper implications of this text, that

being that there is a judgment for sin, and though

God judges cities and nations like Babylon, Egypt, and even Jerusalem,

that there is a day coming when the entire world

will be judged and held accountable to God. And this

is something that no one can escape. When Christ returns

at the end of all things, he will sit on

his great judgment throne, and he will separate the sheep

from the goats, and no one will escape that judgment.

You will either be condemned by your sin, or though

a sinner worthy of condemnation, you will be given eternal life,

not because of your works, but because of the grace

that God gives to every single person who puts their

faith in the perfect and finished work of Jesus. That

is the only way we're going to stand before him

with rejoicing and confidence. But for the rest of those

who have not been made right with God, there will

only be fear and dread for the verdict of their sin. So,

just like them, but even more in its truest sense,

we too are waiting for something that is the true

and second coming of Christ. So really, my question for

you today is are you ready? Are you ready for

Christ to return? Are you prepared for it? If you

return today, would he find you working, would he find

you awake? Or will he find you selfish and lazy?

Drunken substances and the cares of this world. Are you

ready for him to return? Because Jesus tells us nobody

knows the day or hour of his return. Nobody knows that.

Nobody knows that.

Someone tells you that they do know it, they're wrong.

They don't know it. The scripture frequently tells us that

he will come like a thief in the night.

If we look at first Thessalonians.

Paul writes to believers to encourage them about this. For

Thessalonians five, starting in verse one, says, now, concerning the

times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to

have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully

aware that the day of the Lord will come like

a thief in the night. While people are saying there's

peace in security, then sudden destruction will come upon them

as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they

will not escape. But you are are not in darkness, brothers,

for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you,

or children of light, children of the day, we are

not of the night or of the darkness.

So then let us not sleep as others do.

Let us keep awake and be sober.

Sounds really familiar, doesn't it.

It's almost like Jesus had something in or Paul had

something in mind when he was writing this to the Thessalonians.

He says, for those who sleep sleep at night, and

those who get drunk are drunk at night. Isn't that truth?

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober.

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober,

having put on the breastplate of faith and love and

for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has

not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through

our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that

whether we are awake or.

Asleep, we might live with him.

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just

as you are doing. Paul tells us here that for believers,

though we know that Jesus is coming like a thief

in the night, we shouldn't be caught off guard. Because

we know that that's how he's gonna come. It should

not surprise us. We should be like, oh, finally, that

should be our response when he shows up.

Finally, I've been waiting.

For you that you're never gonna show up, you know,

like that that should be our response. It shouldn't be like,

oh yeah. So the way I would summarize today's text

for us is this, if we're asking the question of

how we are to be ready for Christ's return, and

then the answer that we see Paul and Jesus giving

is this, you must stay ready for Christ's return. To

be ready for Christ's return, you must stay ready. But

I think we can break this down a little further.

The first way we are to.

Be ready is by being right with him. No one's

going to be ready for him if we're not right

with him, that we've repented of our sin, put our

faith in Jesus so that we've been reconciled to God

through his sacrifice on our behalf. That's the first way

we need to make sure that we're right with him

before he returns. Once he returns, that's it. You've been arrested.

You've been caught. That's it, because no, like, oh, none

of that, You're caught. The second way to be ready

is by staying ready. You already said that.

I know I said that already, So what do I mean?

It means that we don't lose sight of the first thing.

That's what gets us ready. But how easy to lose sight,

to forget, to fall asleep, to sleep on, to dull

our mind. Yeah, I know, she's like, he died and

pay for my sins and stuff like that.

But I gotta go to the game today.

I gotta do this.

I gotta make sure this bill is paid. I gotta,

I gotta, I gotta, I gotta whatever it is, or

I don't want her? Can I just have this day

for me?

Man means we hold our confession firm to the end,

that we hold our confidence, our original confidence or assurance

firm to the end.

That is, we live every day in the light.

We live for him. We live every day with soberness

of Christ's return that could come at any moment where

we will stand before him and give an a count. Honestly,

we really think about that. How much would that change

your life? How much would that actually affect the way

you're living? If I thought Jesus was going to turn

up at any second, I might think twice about the

way I'm about to respond to.

My wife, the way I might respond to my children.

But they're just so frustrating.

I'm like, yeah, but the Lord is watching.

He could be back any second, and I really don't

want to be caught in the middle of this.

We would just be more intentional.

I actually think it's what would keep us more sober minded,

because we're faced with the reality that he could be back,

and when he's back, like, what do I want him

to find me in the middle of All of us

have different things that we're caught up in.

That could be during the day, could be at our jobs,

that could be during the.

Night by ourselves. There's all kinds of things that we

can find ourselves in. And Jesus could come back at

any moment.

You don't know. We're just betting.

We're like, we're gambling so hard that he is not

going to show up in those moments. Now, Ultimately, what

does make us right is us in a moment of sin,

a moment in frustration. It's not us like, oh, well,

he caught me on a bad day. But we're called

to live in a sober way. We're gonna have bad days,

We're gonna sin, we need repent of those things. That's

what's gonna happen. But we're called to live sober minded.

It so in such a way that like Lord Willing,

as he's sanctifying us, as he's making us look more

like Christ, as he's rooting out that sin in our life,

that we have less of those opportunities for him to

catch us like that. Yeah, we know that we're only

going to heaven because of grace. Right, So we're gonna sin,

but we're trying not to. And the way we can

be more intentional is to stay awake, not grow laxadaisical, not.

Forgetting what's coming. Our real life.

Our true life, our eternal life is yet to come.

We're growing into that.

And so this call is to stay awake, don't fall asleep,

don't forget who you are.

You might be waiting, You might be a.

Christian last twenty thirty, forty fifty years, six years.

I don't know if he's cool.

I don't know. You keep going up. All the more

reason to stay awake. I was seeking about this week.

Think about Jesus. He warns his disciples here about something

that's coming that we can look back in history and

go like, oh, yeah, that's like forty years.

How easily do we fall asleep?

Jesus the night before he goes to the cross, goes

to the garden and he tells his disciples to do

what watch and pray, and you.

Know what they did.

They fell asleep. He's like, bro, he didn't say bro,

but he like he came back. He's like, come on, guys,

they couldn't even stay awake, then, how much more important

is it for us to stay awake?

We need to heed this heads up?

Heed. The warning signs that the reality of Christ's return

can come at any time. And not only that, but

you can just die. You could die at any moment,

at any second, So he could show up and you

don't know when that's gonna happen.

And the other side of that, you could die.

You don't know when that's gonna happen. I pray to

God that it's not on your way home tonight, but

it could. I'm gonna start figuring.

I'm like, i gonna have a hear attack right now.

I'm like, don't don't please them, You're like, so really,

the question is like, are you ready for that?

Are you ready for that?

Where have you become distracted? Are the cares of this life?

Your main focus? Chasing money, love, hobby is pleasure, comfort

over chasing the call to follow Jesus. If we're gonna

heed this warning, we need to look at our lives

and see if they are ready. Does our lives reflect

that they're ready? Do we live in such a way

that we're ready and longing for His return?

Once again, that's the other part of it.

It's the longing piece. I'm actually mindful. I'm like, the

Lord could show up. I'm like, oh, that's right, the

trumpet thing.

I don't want to I don't want to be like that.

I'm like, finally, it's time. You're looking around. It's time, guys,

here it is, it's happening.

Do we live our lives for Him or for ourselves?

What are we caught up in?

And Paul gives us practical instruction for how we're to

live in the light. He talks about what we're to

be clothed with and that our lives would be marked

by soberness and faith and love and the hope of salvation,

and that if that doesn't describe you, which is not

going to perfectly in any of us, I would call

you to repent. It's a call for me to repent,

to realize I've lost sight of some of those things,

to wake up to stay alert, to give up those

things and live in the light as you've been called

before he returns and finds you faithless.

I remember I was about.

Sixteen years old when my grandmother took me to Italy,

which is pretty sick. We're a sixteen year old. I

almost said no, I don't even know why that's I

was like, gosh, teenagers don't know anything and I love them.

And that was me, but you know what I mean,

Like I was just like, I don't know, I might

not get to hang out with my friends, like that

was the reasoning. Anyways, I got to go to Italy

for three weeks with my grandma and very grateful for it.

Was awesome. But while we were there, we see we'd

hit a bunch of the big sites, which is really cool,

and we kind of wanted to like we want to

taste of the real Italy, you know, so we kind

of found like a small tak. The train there was

really cool, but we were waiting. We got off the

train and then waiting for some reason, I don't know

why to before we headed up to our hotel. Probably

wasn't ready yet, but my family was waiting in or

outside the train station. I was next to the train tracks,

and I was looking across, watching a plastic bag on

the other side of the tracks, just being angsty and sixteen.

And if you've ever been to a transtation, you know

that most of them have the yellow strip you know,

I'm talking about, right on the edge, right next to

the train tracks. And the reason they're there is they say,

stay behind that line. That's the line you do not

want to cross. That is the line you do not

want to go beyond. It is not safe beyond this place. Well,

I was standing on the edge of that platform, unaware

of this yellow marker, thinking probably really deep thoughts about

this plastic bag. Because I turned around and I started

writing in my all that I had at the time.

When I heard a train whistle blow, I didn't really

register it. Again, I heard the train whistle blow, and

I'm still looking down. It was getting louder, but I

was like, I'm at a train station. Of course I'm

gonna hear trains, you know. A third time the train

whistle blew, and this time I'm like, I should probably

look just to make sure. And I looked to my

left and my heart, my stomach, everything dropped.

I don't know where just it went down. That's all.

I went down.

Everything in my stomach went down because the train was

coming full steam into the station on our tracks, the

tracks that I was right next to. I was really

hoping that it was probably just was like, oh, the

train just left, it's probably on the other side.

It wasn't.

I barely got out of the way in time. It

did clip my backpack, which is just the edge of it.

I believe there's still a scuff on that mark here

on that bag to this day. My grandma, aunt and cousin,

who were watching what happened, screamed I've never heard them like, yeah.

They all screamed my name.

And afterwards the conductor came over and started yelling at

me in Italian.

He was very angry that he almost murdered a child.

But it wasn't his fault.

It was my fault.

Those That day was a close call for me.

I genuine I couldn't go near train tracks for a

really long time without being like as we were driving

across them. It was a close call for me though,

because I didn't heed the sign. There was a reason

the horn is blowing, that's what they're there for, say

get out.

Of the way.

I didn't heed the warnings all around me, the yellow mark,

I wasn't thinking. I've seen about something that didn't matter,

a plastic bag. It doesn't matter, doesn't matter, but God's grace.

I looked up by God's grace. I believe he woke

me up with a fire alarm chirping so that I

could be awake and ready for when the shirtless man

tried to enter my house in the middle of the night.

It's funny, and it's.

Like, not, okay, guy, it's fine now. I genuinely pray

that today would be your wake up call.

It'd be my wake up call to be ready and

stay ready for his return. This is the warning sign.

This is the warning sign if you forgot. This is

the warning sign if you've heard it the first if

this is the first time you're hearing it, this is

the warning sign. Stay sober, get right with him. You

don't know when he will come back. You do not

know when you will die. But what we do know

is every single one of us will stand before him

and will either be condemned or redeemed. That's just the reality.

This is the wake up call. I think God is good.

No, he is good. I don't think he just is good.

He gives us these heads up. He has given us

a heads up, He's given us warning signs, and he

continues to every single time we breathe give us another second,

another minute. And I pray to God that you are

not wasting that. I pray to God that I'm not

wasting that, And that if I'm not right with the Lord,

if you are not right with the Lord, that you

would get right with him. There's nothing you can do

that will redeem you. Everything you have to present before

him is filthy, racks. Our works accomplish nothing. They probably

further condemn us. Really, honestly, they're really not that great.

The only way that we can be saved is by

putting our faith in trust in Jesus and what he

accomplished on the cross, on our behalf. That he was perfect,

that he was righteous, and that he took the death

that I deserved but instead gives me life because I

trust him.

So I pray that you trust him.

I pray that you hear this alarm. I pray that

you hear this train horn, whatever you want it to be,

that you would heed it.

Amen. Amen, would you guys please stand