831 Lk.17.22-37 The Reason To Be Ready

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- When a sprinter walks out on the track, readying himself for the race, he goes through a preparation process

The Reason To Be Ready

Date: 5-05-19 831 Echuca
- When a sprinter walks out on the track, readying himself for the race, he goes through a preparation process
- He comes out & he walks causally around his starting blocks to relax himself & to get a feel for what is about to happen
- He loosens himself up, shaking & twitching, until his body is feeling loose & ready to give it all & explode off the starting blocks
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- He then gets into his lane and carefully aligns his feet on the starting blocks making sure they are in the right position for a fast start
- When he’s in place, he awaits & listens attentively for a “On your mark” &, then, the starter gun which starts the race
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- All this preparation so he can start the race well & finish the race well
- If he wasn’t prepared, he could easily be left behind
- If one of his feet, for example, was not correctly placed on the starting bloke & it slipped off after the starter sounded, then that slip would not only cost him the race, it might even cost him a place
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- Jesus made one thing clear to His disciples – be ready
Luke 12:40 NASB95
40 “You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”
-- "You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect."
- The main people this was addressed to was His apostles who had the responsibility of taking the message of the Gospel out to the nations
- The main people this was addressed to was His apostles who had the responsibility of taking the message of the Gospel out to the nations
- But it also has a secondary impact on every Christian as well to serve the Lord & to do that faithfully
- Being ready, means being prepared for Jesus’ return at any time

1. Jesus Is Returning

- It’s been 2000 yrs since Jesus trod the ground of Israel & gave His life on the cross & was raised to life from the grave
- Some have thought that His promise of a return was a mistake
- Some believe that He has already returned – an interesting proposal - but it doesn’t match up at all with the overall message of the Scripture
- Still, others, believe that time is irrelevant to the Lord’s purposes
- Let’s take a moment today to look, briefly, into the return of Jesus
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- The first fact that we can declare is that Jesus said He will return
- It seems obvious that His return is a literal return & not just some spiritual return
- Here the angels say...
– 11 They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."
Acts 1:11 NASB95
11 They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
- The same way is in a literal bodily return as He ascended in a literal, bodily ascent
- Now you can argue black & blue that heaven is not up in the sky so where did Jesus go
- I’ve actually heard someone say that He journeyed to the end of the universe
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- You need to realise that God often works through the present constructs of the day
- Above the sky was where heaven was thought to be
- But the abode of God is outside the created universe – He is Spirit so it’s probably mixing it up too much to insist on a physical location

a) A Spectacular, Speedy Return

- What is relevant is that this is how Jesus will return as explained by the angels
- In particular, what is mentioned is Jesus’ warning against being deceived & being led astray to another Jesus
- People saying “here he is”, or “there he is”
- To counter that, Jesus says that He will not come in the normal human way
- Nor will He come with signs to be observed
Luke 17:24 NASB95
24 “For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day.
—24 “For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day.
- Not here, nor there, but as lightning is witnessed by all so will Jesus’ return be witnessed by all
- It will be a sight to be observed & it will be spectacular
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- This is very unlike the birth-day of Jesus, where only a select few people saw Him
- A day when no one cared enough, nor even noticed enough, to give Him a room
- A day when all that was available for Jesus was the feedbox of an ass, as Luther wrote
- BUT on the day of His return, every one will know, every eye will see
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Q. How will everyone see, since He can only be at one place at one time & the world is such a big place?
- We don’t know, but Paul was in Thessalonica – a long way from Jerusalem – when he taught of the coming of Jesus
2 Thessalonians 2:8 NASB95
8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
—8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
2 Thessalonians 1:6–9 NASB95
6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
—6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
- John was on the island of Patmos, off Turkey, when He taught about Jesus
Revelation 1:7 NASB95
7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.
Revelation 1:7 NASB95
7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.
Rev.1
BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.

b) But There Will Be a Delay

- The early church was under the impression that Jesus was going to come soon – even within their lifetime
- Of course, we know that He hasn’t come back
- 2000 yrs seems a long time & there have been generations of Christians that have come & gone & will never witness Christ’s return
- What we need to understand is that, as much as the church is to be vigilant, in awaiting His return, the church needs to realise that Jesus also predicted that there would be a delay in His return
Luke 21:8–9 NASB95
8 And He said, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them. 9 “When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.”
—8 And He said, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them. 9 “When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.”
Q. The question that can be reasonably asked is why is He waiting?
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- There are multiply reasons why we might delay, for example, a project, but usually the main reason is that we are waiting for something else to fall into place, first, before the project can advance
- There is something that Jesus is waiting for to fall into place before He returns
- Remember how Jesus expressed the kingdom in...
Matthew 13:31–32 NASB95
31 He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
-- 31 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES."
- So the kingdom has a small beginning symbolised by the small mustard seed, but then huge growth symbolised by the large tree
- The kingdom will grow & become immense & with 2.2 billion Christians today around the world, the kingdom of God has indeed grown
- With the current population of the world at 7.7 billion that represents between a quarter & a third of the entire world’s population
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- Jesus also specifically says, that there will be a caveat on the timing of His return & that caveat is the spread of the Gospel message
- The kingdom of God & the Gospel are intertwined with each other
- The Gospel is the message of the kingdom & when one repents & believes in the Gospel, they enter the kingdom of God
- Jesus, when talking about John the Baptist – that no one has been greater than John yet, He says, the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he
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- This means that the kingdom has a dynamic that cannot be equated with the fallen age of man – it is way, far, superior
- John was a part of that fallen age because his life & ministry were prior to the death & resurrection of Christ
- Yes, he was a prophet of God like all before him
- But the kingdom of Christ is qualitatively different & better
- In my opinion, it is because of the rupture or entry of Christ's saving grace & the subsequent bestowal of the Holy Spirit, into a sin-drenched world
- That the Spirit comes on all who repent & turn to Jesus is vastly different from any era before
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- The imperative, then, is that the Gospel must traverse the world for it is only through the Gospel, that one may know & enter the kingdom of God
-- 10 "The gospel must first be preached to all the nations.
Mark 13:10 NASB95
10 “The gospel must first be preached to all the nations.
Matthew 24:14 NASB95
14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
-- 14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

c) Confusion Over Two Questions

- One problem, people run into when they read about Jesus’ return is that they conflate His disciples two questions into one & think that Jesus is answering them as if they are only one question
Matthew 24:1–3 NASB95
1 Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” 3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
—1 Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” 3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 1. “Tell us, when will these things happen, and 2. what will be the sign of Your coming, and/even of the end of the age?”
- That may sound like 3 questions, but it’s really only two because Jesus’ coming & the end of the age is one & the same thing
- The disciples were asking about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem that Jesus predicted
- “Not one stone will be left upon another”, said Jesus
- The beautiful temple that had been worked on for years & years
- Herod’s temple was magnificent & left all others behind in it’s wake, even Solomon’s temple
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- But Jesus said “not one stone will be left on another”
Q. That sounds apocalyptic doesn’t it?
Q. Right! So they ask when will this happen & when will be the end? - It seems that the disciples may have thought the two might have gone together
- But Jesus deals with both questions separately
- One He says He knows about – when Jerusalem will be destroyed by an army & the other, He doesn’t know about – when He is going to return
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- His prediction came to pass when the Romans entered Jerusalem in 70 ad & burned & destroyed the city & temple
- “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place, He said, with all these things referring to the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD
- All these things, cannot include the coming of Jesus, because He plainly said that He didn’t know when He would appear
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- Historically, the Jews prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, were unhappy with the Christians because they listened to Jesus & fled Jerusalem before it happened
- However, when He answered their 2nd question about His glorious appearance, He was able to tell them how it was going to happen, but not when it was going to happen
- Jesus said that only the Father would determine & decide when He would return
Matthew 24:36–42 NASB95
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 37 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
—36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 37 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

2. One Will Be Taken the Other Will Be Left

- One taken & one left speaks of the fate of the two people &, importantly, it speaks to all walks of life
- It is unrelated to any particular class or structure of society
- The women grinding at the Mill was a common task performed by slaves
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- The one taken is the one taken to be with the Lord as He send His angels out to gather the wheat into the barn & the ones left are the ones that will be subjected to judgement
- Just as the angels will also “gather” the chaff & burn it up – fire is a common metaphor for judgement
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- I appreciated the amnesty analogy Stuart made last week
- The amnesty analogy fits very well into the warnings given by Jesus
- An amnesty is a pardon offered for people who have committed an offence against the government or, in this case, against God
- On the proviso, however, they come forward & renounce their offence/s & accept the amnesty offered
- Without renouncement & acceptance there is no amnesty
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- We do indeed live in a day of grace, where Jesus is “not counting our sins against us” (); not coming to judge but to save (); withholding wrath rather than smite those who defy Him ()
- That amnesty is offered on the condition of repentance & baptism as Jesus said in the great commission & Peter on the day of Pentecost
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- Interestingly, the apostle John points out that the division of the end has, in one sense, already begun
-- 36 "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
John 3:36 NASB95
36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
- The technical meaning here is prolepsis
- It means that what will be decided in the end has been determined now – on condition that the situation, as determined, will not change prior to the end
- For example, when a person puts a deposit down on a car, that car is his, but on condition the sale goes completely through on the final day of that transaction
- If the person changes their mind or goes against the conditions of the sale, that transaction will be void
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- This is analogous with the grace that Jesus gives to His people
- That grace is contingent upon a person being genuine with Jesus
- If they are not truly for Him & are not prepared to enter through the small gate & walk along the difficult, narrow road, then they have not been honest with Jesus
- When a person trusts & obey Jesus, they have escaped the judgement to come, because someone – as in Jesus – has dealt with their sin at the cross
- If one doesn’t accept this amnesty, then the full weight of the law will be enacted
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- Jesus came to free us from the penalty of sin & the power of sin
- Both of those contributions work together
- You cannot have freedom from the penalty without freedom from the power
- That means that change is not only normative, it is indicative, of the genuine Christian life
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- Jesus never made this wonderful offer of everlasting life by forcing it upon people
- Nor did He want people to grab it with both hands without working it through for themselves
- On one occasion, He challenged people to consider whether they can meet the cost of being a disciple – an adherent to Jesus
-- 27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 "Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
Luke 14:27–30 NASB95
27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
- So we are to see the Christian life through – we are to finish the race
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- The series we are dealing with in Mission Month is “Be Ready”
- We are to be ready for the appearance of Jesus, but being ready means that we are about serving our Lord faithfully until He comes
- We live today as if He is going to appear tomorrow
Matthew 24:37 NASB95
37 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.
"For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be —42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
Matthew 24:39 NASB95
39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be —42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
Matthew 24:42 NASB95
42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be —42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be —42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be —42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
—42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
- We sang, “Amazing Grace”, how sweet the sound
- But there will be nothing to be sweet about for the person who has not renounced their life & surrendered it to Jesus, before He returns
- When Jesus comes, there will be no more opportunities given
- Jesus the Saviour will come as Jesus the judge & all those who have hated Him & defied Him will receive their just judgement
- But deliverance from judgement, deliverance from death, will be granted those who have loved & obeyed Him
- That, in itself, is a reason to be ready
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