YOU’D BETTER GET READY
MATTHEW 24:36-51
INTRODUCTION: The Olivet Discourse is Christ’s answer to His disciples responding to their request “...Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age? (Matthew 24:3) The message deals with the Second Advent of Christ and the events leading up to His revelation as mentioned by John in the book of Revelation. “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him…” (Revelation 1:7) The full truth of the Rapture of the Church had not yet been revealed, as it was a mystery to be revealed to the New Testament Church after Pentecost in the teachings of the Apostles. The message Christ delivers here deals with the perilous events of the seven-year Tribulation and His inevitable return to reign on David’s throne. He speaks of the necessity of those going through this time to be ready for His return. Realizing that the church will be raptured out before these events occur, we can take the truths and principles of this message as an admonition to get ready. In our text, we see the prize for preparation as well as the price of procrastination in the face of the promise of His coming.
I. The Promise of His Coming
A. Matthew 24:7 “For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
B. John 14:1-3 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
C. Christ’s second coming is as certain as His first. At Christ’s first coming there were many who were definitely looking for and longing for that day. Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel; and Anna spoke of the infant Lord to those who were expecting redemption in Israel. But all Jews were not looking for that blessed Hope, the appearance of the Grace of God. Some like Philo discouraged any Messianic hope among the people. Christ will come a second time at a time and in a manner for which men are not ready or prepared.
D. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
E. After the fall of Atlanta in July 1864, General John B. Hood, commander of the Confederate Army, marched westward to attack the communications of General Sherman with Chattanooga and Nashville. He hoped to draw Sherman’s army from Georgia. One of the posts he attacked was Allatoona Pass, commanded by the grave and capable General Corse. Sherman himself went back with part of his army as far as Kennesaw Mountain. From the summit of the mountain he signaled the beleaguered garrison, "Hold the fort! I am coming!" Major Whittle, an evangelical Christian, related this incident to the hymn writer P. P. Bliss, who was inspired to write, Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus signals still; Wave the answer back to heaven, By Thy grace we will.” – Source: David J. McCleod, "The First Last Thing," Bibliotheca Sacra 156:622 (Apr/Jun 1999), pp. 77-78.
II. The Prize for Preparation
A. Matthew 24:45-47 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them 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.”
B. Luke 12:37-40 “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
C. Christians do not practically remember that while we are saved by grace, altogether by grace, so that in the matter of salvation works are altogether excluded; yet that so far as the rewards of grace are concerned, in the world to come, there is an intimate connection between the life of the Christian here and the enjoyment and the glory in the day of Christ’s appearing. – George Muller of Bristol and His Witness to a Prayer Hearing God, by Arthur T. Pierson
D. 1 Corinthians 4:5 “5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”
E. Many say all that matters is whether we go to heaven. However, the Scriptures teach that the happiness or blessedness of believers in a future life will be greater or less in proportion to the service of Christ in this life. Those who love little do little; and those who do little enjoy less. – copied
F. Revelation 22:7, 12 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book… Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done.”
III. The Price of Procrastination
A. | Baptist preacher William Miller, founder of the Millerites, announced that Christ would come on March 21, 1843, and when that failed, he proposed a new date of October 22, 1844. In a Philadelphia store window the following sign was displayed: "This shop is closed in honor of the King of kings who will appear about the twentieth of October. Get ready, friends, to crown Him Lord of all." A group of 200 people left the city, as Lot had left Sodom before impending doom. Most of the Millerites gave up their occupations during the last days. Farmers left their crops in the fields, as they awaited the coming of Christ. On October 22--Christ never came. Again they set a date that Christ would come in five years, but of course Christ did not come. Soon after this time, Miller died. Today, his tombstone reads, "At the time appointed, the end shall be."
| Prophecy teacher Michael Baxter of England pinpointed the arrival of Christ to come on March 12, 1903 between 2:30 and 3:00 AM. (Thomas Williamson writes, "Presumably he was using Greenwich standard time, but I don’t really know...") - | Retired NASA scientist Edgar Whisenaut, published a booklet entitled, "88 Reasons why the Rapture will Occur in 1988." The booklet sold more than 4 million copies in a few months, and was the center of much discussion—until the October 11 "target date" came and went, with no fireworks. (Whisenaut printed a modified edition of his booklet a few years later, which discussed a few errors which he’d made in his previous calculations and described the 92 reasons why the Rapture would occur in May of 1992.) – copied
| Charismatic preacher and television personality Benny Hinn predicted that the Rapture would occur in 1993. He also declared that God would destroy all homosexuals in America by 1995.
B. 2 Peter 3:3-4 “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation’.”
C. Matthew 24:48-51 “But if that wicked servant says to himself, My master is delayed, and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks 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 will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
D. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
E. Many young people live recklessly, and excuse the behavior by saying, "I’m still young. My life is just beginning. I’ve got the rest of my life to ’straighten up’ and live responsibly." Consider this, though: Suppose that you have 80 years to live. Now, suppose we compress those 80 years into the waking hour of a single day, say from 7:00 in the morning until 11:00 at night. That would mean that, if you are eighteen years old today, then it is 10:36 in the morning. If you are 25 years old, then it is HIGH NOON. Better get movin’, son! If you are 35 years old, then it is 2:00 in the afternoon in the "Day" of your life. Can you imagine wasting that much of the day, then saying to yourself, "It’s OK, the day is still young, I’ve got plenty of time to get some responsible work done"? Ridiculous! Now, young person, can you see what FOLLY it is to waste your younger years living irresponsibly, based upon the assumption that you have plenty of time left"?
And, if you’re heading on into middle age, how much more is it true that time is slipping by you quickly! Using the same analogy as before, if you are 50 years old today, then it is 5:00 in the evening in the "day" of your life. If you are 70 years old, then it’s 9:00-- almost bedtime! Don’t delay another day to start serving Christ and making something significant out of your life! - Source: Zeke Moore
F. "It is not after the storm has arisen, or the telegraph has reported that his ship has struck, that the merchant runs to insure his goods. He takes care of the insurance while the sun is shining and the air calm; he makes sure the insurance is in effect before the ship has cleared from the dock, or at all events before the ship has left the river. "You should do the same, you living, but dying people! Now is the accepted time, today. God is with us waiting; his terms are still, ’Whosoever will.’ Today you may enter into life; tomorrow the door may be shut." — Charles Haddon Spurgeon
IV. Conclusion
A. The people of Martinique sent representatives to that smoldering volcano, Mount Pelee, to see what the condition was. They returned and gave false reports and the city slept on, in all its vice. Nature took warning and the reptiles commenced crawling down the mountainside, birds left their nests, and the cattle and the sheep took warning. Then old Mount Pelee belched forth, and about 40,000 people perished. They heard when too late the sound of the trumpet. There are those today who are giving false reports concerning Christ’s coming to earth again. They say that the disciples expected Him to return while they were living and He didn’t come, so He won’t come now. Others are saying when this old world is reformed He will come but not until then. These are false reports. Christ said, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" – William Moses Tidwell, "Effective Illustrations."
B. Zephaniah 2:3 “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord.”
C. Are you Ready?
D. Show: www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=f983956d7c19e3434c0c
