I do want from time to time to answer the questions that are foremost on your mind. So this is probably going to be a tradition that we do about once a year to take questions and then give answers. The first question that was submitted regards the second coming of Jesus Christ, and I'm going to spend most of my time this morning on answering that question. The second one pertains to personal holiness, and as we'll see, they are very closely related. The question that was given is this, what did Christ mean when he told his disciples in Matthew 24, 42 to keep watch as they anticipated his second coming? What still needs to occur before Christ returns? And what does Pastor Steve mean when he prays, come quickly, Lord Jesus? Well, this brings us into a subject that I have preached on very little here at Christian Fellowship Church. And because I have preached very little on it here, I do need to give a longer answer than I would normally if I had previously been teaching on these things. The middle part of that question is very hard to answer. The middle part was, what still needs to occur before Christ returns? Within the evangelical church, there are several different views on this. One view is amillennialism. A second view is postmillennialism. A third, post-trib premillennialism. And a fourth one, pre-trib premillennialism. Each of these four views is held by Bible scholars and by pastors that we as a church body respect. In our church, we agree to disagree on this issue. In the Constitution, in the Articles of Faith, it says we regard adherence to any of the three major millennial schools as a matter of sole liberty, meaning that we are not going to require somebody who's going to be an elder or a pastor in this church, and definitely not a member, to adhere to a certain millennial school, to any one of these four viewpoints that I have just listed. And even within the elders and deacons of this church, we hold various views on this. The reason why here at this church we don't make a big issue about people having to believe a certain view, and the reason why we have agreed to have a disunity about this on the board, is because the Bible's teaching on the future has always been the hardest teaching in the Bible to understand. Just think about the disciples of Jesus. Jesus comes on the scene. They've studied the Old Testament about what it says will happen in the future. And as we see in the Gospels, they got it all wrong when they studied the Old Testament to find out what would happen in the future. They were expecting a Messiah who is going to immediately establish a kingdom on earth that would overthrow the Roman Empire. They were not expecting the Messiah to die on a cross. That's because it's easy to misunderstand the prophecies in the Bible about what will happen in the future that have not yet been fulfilled. Wayne Grudem has written probably now the most respected systematic theology book and he writes in there about this issue, it is important to realize that the interpretation of the details of prophetic passages regarding future events is often a complex and difficult task involving many variable factors. Therefore, the degree of certainty that attaches to our conclusions in this area will be less than with any other doctrines. Even though I will argue for one position, he writes, I also think it important for evangelicals to recognize that this area of study is complex and to extend a large measure of grace to others who hold different views regarding the millennium and the tribulation period. But since the Bible does talk about this, the Bible does talk about Christ's second coming, it does talk somewhat about the timing of Christ's second coming, and it talks about this whole issue of the millennial reign of Christ, we must seek to understand what the Bible says. about it. We ought not just to kind of be like Thomas Jefferson and just kind of disregard the parts of the Bible that we think are hard or we do not like. We need to seek to understand what does the Bible say about the future. Well, as we consider the timing of Christ's second coming, And we need to understand that the timing of his return is closely related to the timing of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ that is spoken of in the book of Revelation. So please turn with me to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. Actually, back up to chapter 19. In verse 11, we read, And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and wages war. And as the following verses indicate, this is a description of Jesus Christ returning. This is a description of His second coming. His second coming is described in verse 11. down through the end of the chapter. And then in chapter 20, verse 1, we start to read about the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. It says there, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he threw him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer. until the thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be released for a short time. Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years." Now, there are different views within evangelicalism on the timing of this 1,000 year period. It's described several times as 1,000 years in which Jesus Christ rules and reigns and saints rule and reign with him. And one of the different views, one of the different interpretations of this is what is called amillennialism. The word millennium comes from the word thousand years, and the word amillennialism puts an A in front of that word millennialism, and it literally means no millennium. That view is that there's no future millennium yet to come. The All-Millennial View believes that this thousand-year period spoken of here, the thousand years is figurative of a long period of time, and it speaks of a period of time that we are in today that started with Pentecost and will go until the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is an age in which Satan's influence has been greatly reduced so the gospel can be preached to the whole world. Christ's reign described here is interpreted as a heavenly reign rather than an earthly reign. Those reigning with him in this passage are Christians who are in heaven. Within this view, Christ could return at any moment. Nothing necessarily needs to happen before Christ returns. The second view on this 1,000 year period that we just read about in Revelation 20 is called post-millennialism. The word post refers to the fact that in this view, Christ will return after the millennial reign of Christ described here in Revelation 20. In post-millennialism, the view is this, that the progress of the gospel, the growth of the church, are going to gradually increase. As a result, there will be a significant Christian influence upon society. which will more and more function according to God's standards. Gradually, a millennial age of peace and righteousness will occur, then Christ will return. In this view, Christ will not return anytime soon, because we still need to go through the millennium. As you look around, society definitely is not yet permeated with the gospel. So in that view, Christ could not return in the near future. The third view, post-trib, pre-millennialism. It's a big term. In this view, Christ will return after the Great Tribulation, but before the millennium. During the millennium, described here in Revelation 20, Christ will be physically present on earth, reigning over the entire earth in perfect righteousness, bringing peace to earth and bringing righteousness to earth. And that the mainstream of thought within post-trib pre-mill is that though Christ could return during this generation, the seven-year tribulation still needs to occur before he actually returns. In the fourth view, pre-trib, pre-millennialism, the main difference with the view I just stated is that Christ's return will have two phases to it. Just prior to the Great Tribulation, the Church will be raptured. The word rapture comes from 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17. It says, there then we who are alive, and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall always be with the Lord." It says that we who are alive at Christ's second coming will be caught up to be with the Lord in the clouds. And that term caught up, the Latin word for it is rapturo, from which we get rapture. So rapture is a biblical word in the Latin. referring to this being caught up together with Christ. So pre-trib, pre-mill, says prior to the tribulation, the church will be raptured. The great tribulation then will be a seven-year period in which God executes judgment on the wicked. She prepares national Israel for her Messiah and prepares her to enter the Millennial Kingdom. Basically, leads unbelieving Israelites to faith in Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior, because there's no other way into the Kingdom of God. Then after that seven year tribulation, the second phase of Christ's return will occur, where he descends completely to the earth to physically reign on the earth during the millennium. The first phase of Christ's return that we call the rapture could happen at any moment. Nothing needs to occur before the rapture. Now, I want to spend a little bit of time evaluating these different views according to the word of God, sharing the different supports for each and evaluating it a little bit. I only have time, of course, to give what I believe to be the strongest support for each view. This is a complex issue. Many reasons are given for the different views that I do not have time to get into. First of all, amillennialism, which remember, is the view that currently we are in the Millennium. It's a heavenly reign of Christ, not an earthly one. Probably the greatest support for this view is that Jesus taught that his kingdom came with his earthly ministry. There were certain times when he said, the kingdom is here, or it is at hand. And also in John 18, 36, Jesus answered Pilate, and he said, my kingdom is not of this world. In evaluating that, I would say it's important to realize that Jesus' kingdom only came partially with his earthly ministry. Jesus' kingdom did not come with His earthly ministry to the same degree that is described in Revelation chapter 20. And Jesus Himself taught that His kingdom would not come in its fullness until His second coming. Revelation 20 that we've read describes a reign far greater than Christ's current reign. Yes. Christ's kingdom has started to a certain degree. Yes, Christ is reigning to a certain degree, but it's no comparison with what we see here in Revelation chapter 20. If you look at verse 2, we read, And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he threw him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be released for a short time." What we have here as a description is that God is going, in this period, God completely shuts down the activity of Satan. He says he's thrown into the abyss, the abyss is shut, sealed over him, so he will not deceive the nations any longer. All right? No activity of Satan in the world during this period, the way this reads. Now compare this with other scriptures. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3. Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so they might not see the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ. Right now, one of the reasons, there's multiple reasons, but one of the reasons why the people who do not believe in Jesus do not believe in Him is Satan is blinding their minds. I don't see how he could be blinding minds if he is shut up to the degree right now that Revelation 20 talks about. First Peter 5, 8 through 9 says, Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, but resist him. We have to resist him because he is seeking to devour us. He is around us. He is working against us right now. Revelation 12 verse 9, the great dragon, which represents Satan, was thrown down. The serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. In that passage of the same book that describes the millennium, it says that As this book is written in that time period, when this book is written, Satan was deceiving the whole world. Again, I don't think that matches Revelation 20 with him being sealed in the abyss, not able to deceive the nations. It says he is deceiving the whole world. And Revelation 27, 20 says during this period, he will not be able to deceive the nations any longer. Also look at verse 4, Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. So we have a resurrection of saints at the beginning of this 1,000 year period. Verse 5, the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection, referring to the one at the beginning of the thousand years, and then it's just told us there's a second one at the end of those thousand years for the rest of the dead. And then verse six, blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. So as I read this, what I'm reading is there is a bodily resurrection of believers at the beginning of this period. And then there's a second bodily resurrection at the end of this period of those who did not know the Lord and His grace. Now, obviously, there's been no first physical resurrection of saints prior to this time, and then coming a second one after this period. To be consistent with the amillennial view, you have to say, well, that first resurrection is not a literal bodily resurrection. And I see no indications in the text to say that a first resurrection is anything other than a bodily resurrection of saints. And then the other critique I would give to amillennialism is Think of the book of Revelation as a whole. We have a general sequence in the book of Revelation. We have the most part of Revelation dealing with a period of great tribulation. Then we have Christ's return in Revelation 19. Then we have his millennial reign in chapter 20. And then we have a new heavens and a new earth in chapters 21 through 22. There seems to be a chronological order here. And nobody changes the order of the other events. Nobody says, well, the great tribulation at the beginning of Revelation really happens after the second coming of Christ. No one says, well, the new heavens and the earth at the end of Revelation really happens before the millennial reign of Christ, chapter 20. Seems to be a chronological order there. The amillennialist response to what I have just said is that Revelation 20 is obscure, but in response to that, I would say neither I nor other premillennialists find Revelation 20 obscure. It is those who see this as a current heavenly reign are the ones who find this obscure. How about post-millennialism? What is the support for post-millennialism? Remember that that's the view that Christ returns after the millennium. The support would be, it is true that the Bible teaches, as post-millennialism says, that the gospel will greatly spread before Christ's return, that the church will greatly grow, Matthew chapter 24 verse 14 is one example. It says, 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. Matthew 13, 31 to 33 has some parables, and it says, He presented another parable saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. which a man took and sowed in his field. 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 the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. He spoke another parable, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leaven. So postmillennialism says, well, this is talking about the church is going to grow and going to be victorious. matching up with the description of the millennium, then Christ will come. But the problems I see with this is, first of all, the problems I pointed out with amillennialism, the problem of placing a thousand year period prior to the second coming of Christ. Something else is that postmillennialism seems to be contrary to the scriptures that teach that Christ could return soon, and we must be ready for him to return at any time. Matthew 24, 42, therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day our Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will." That doesn't make sense to me if there's still to be a millennial period before Christ returns. How could it be at any time? Why are we told to be ready if there's still this large period that is to happen. James 5 also talks about the Lord is near. He's standing right at the door. How about premillennialism? The idea that Christ is returning before that thousand year period. What's the support for that? Well, I've already given some support for that in my evaluations of the other positions. I would say also that premillennialism is the most straightforward interpretation of Revelation chapter 20. If you read it in the normal way, the literal way, I think it indicates premill. I think you have to find figurative things and symbolism in here to go any other way. Another support I find for premillennialism is there are Old Testament passages that prophesy of an age far greater than our present age, but falling short of the eternal state, falling short of what Revelation calls the new heavens and the new earth. We saw some months ago, we were looking at Isaiah 65. at Isaiah's prophecy of what he calls New Heavens and New Earth. And we saw that Isaiah was prophesying a time in which there would be people who would, because the curse would be removed, they would live a lot longer than we live, but they still would die. That's clearly not in the eternal state of people dying. Isaiah 65, 20-23, if you want to look that up. And there's other similar prophecies about a period that clearly is not what we're currently going through. It's a greater time, but far less of the time when all death is removed, all suffering is removed in the eternal state. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15 for another support for the idea that Christ is coming before the Millennium. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 23. 1 Corinthians 15, 23 is talking about the resurrection, this coming of believers. And it says, But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, after that, those who are Christ at his coming. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet." We seem to have a sequence here. He talks about at the beginning of those verses, Christ is going to be coming again. After he comes will come the end. And in that period between his coming and the very end, He must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. Matching up with that millennial period that we read of in Revelation chapter 20, which would put it after his second coming. Turn over to another passage. It's in Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2 verse 26, this is spoken to a church, the church of Thyatira, just before the church is going to read the prophecies of Revelation about a great tribulation and then Christ's second coming. It says here in verse 26, he who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from my Father." Notice that it talks about after the believer has overcome, they will be given authority over nations, and the believer will be involved in ruling nations. Now, compare that with Revelation chapter 6 verse 9. Let us see how Revelation describes Christians who have died, what they are going through right now. Are they reigning over nations right now? Revelation 6, 9. When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed, even as they had been, would be completed also." These believers have been persecuted, they've been martyred, they've been put to death. They ask God, how long is it going to be until you bring vengeance on those who martyred us? Clearly, right now when they're under the altar, they're not ruling and reigning over the nations like the promise was in chapter 2. And the answer is that they have to rest and wait a little while longer. What's implied is there's coming a time later on when, along with Christ, you will rule the nations and those who have martyred you will be avenged, which would match up with the millennial period and would suggest that that comes after Christ's second coming. Well, as I'm sure you've picked up by now, I personally firmly believe Scripture teaches Christ will return before the millennial reign of Christ. But then there's this question, will Christ come for us believers before the Great Tribulation or after the Great Tribulation? Remember, there's two views. There's the post-trib and there's the pre-trib. Well, in the post-trib view, there's just one phase of Christ's coming, that He comes for everyone after the tribulation. In support of that, I would have you turn to Matthew 24. Matthew chapter 24. In Matthew 24 verse 3, we come to what's called the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus is talking about future events, at least they were future to Him. It's also recorded in Luke chapter 21 and Mark chapter 13. Here in Matthew 24, Verse 3, we read, As Jesus 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? Among other things, they want to know, what is the sign of Christ's return? and they assume it's going to be at the same time when the temple is destroyed and the end of the age. Jesus goes on and He's answering this question. He says, the sign of His coming will be the great tribulation and even more so His coming. When you see Him, you will automatically know it's Him. You don't have to have a sign to tell you it's going to be Him. But as Jesus talks about this, He seems to be indicating in this chapter that believers will go through the period of the Great Tribulation. Because if you look down to verse 29, He's going through what's gonna happen, and now he's approaching Christ's second coming. Verse 29, he says, but immediately 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 the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels, with a great trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. Now learn the parable from the fig tree. When its branches already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So you too, when you see all these things, recognize that he is near right at the door. He seems to be saying to believers, you will see all these things that are going to transpire, including great tribulation. You will see all of these things. You're not going to be away from it. You will be there. And then in verse 42, he says, therefore, be on the alert for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. So this passage would suggest, at least to me, that Christ is not going to be a rapture prior to the tribulation. It's all going to be one coming. Also turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. We're getting a whole survey of eschatology this morning. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 1, Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Jesus is referring there when he talks about the man of lawlessness setting himself up in the temple as someone to be worshipped. He's talking about an event that we're told in other places will happen during the Great Tribulation with the man known as Antichrist. And what Paul seems to be saying here is, he seems to be saying we know the Antichrist will come. before Christ comes again for believers. So if somebody tells you before Antichrist comes that Christ has come, don't believe them. So that would seem to suggest Christ will come after the tribulation. Now, what's the support for the other view? What is the support for the view that Jesus will rapture the church before the tribulation and spare the church from the tribulation? Turn with me to John chapter 14, verse 1. I hope you're getting a sense of the complexity of these issues. And I hope you're getting a sense of the need for showing grace to each other on this. John 14 verse 1. Jesus says, Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. When I read this, what it sounds like to me is Jesus says He's going to come and He's going to take believers back to heaven, to be with Him in heaven, at a place He's prepared for them in heaven. But in the post-trib view, When Jesus comes for the church, he comes to the church and he sets up his reign here on earth. He doesn't take them back to heaven. So this, in John 14, Jesus seems to be describing a different phase of his coming than that last part when he comes straight to earth. He didn't seem to be describing a prior phase when he takes believers back to heaven to be spared from the great tribulation. Also turn to Revelation chapter three, Verse 10. Revelation 3, verse 10. Jesus speaks these words to one of the churches, again, just before they are going to read the prophecy of the Great Tribulation. And He says here, Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." I think that, of course, there's different interpretations given of this verse, but I think the straightforward interpretation of this verse is, Jesus is going to come, to rescue believers from going through a time period called here the hour of testing, which would coincide then with this would be a promise of him coming to gather the church to himself so that they will not go through the tribulation period, a first phase of his coming. Another support for the idea that Jesus is coming for the church before the tribulation would be passages that describe Christ's second coming, and that seem to describe His coming in two separate phases, kind of like I was talking about before. In the Matthew 24 passage, if you go on through that passage, what you read is just before it says Jesus comes again, it says that, as in the days of Noah, The wicked were taken for judgment. He says, so there's going to be two women kneading bread. One will be taken, the other left. There's going to be two men working the field. One will be taken, the other left. The context indicates when it talks about one will be taken, it's talking about one will be taken for judgment. It's saying at the second coming of Christ, according to Matthew 24, that when Christ comes, the people He's going to be removing from the earth are the unbelievers, are the wicked, removing them for judgment. The believers will stay there. But in other passages, like turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, we seem to have a very different description. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16, So in this passage, it seems to be saying the people are going to be removed, our believers. How can we coincide this passage with the other one? The other one said wicked will be removed. This one's talking about believers are going to be removed from the earth. Well, it makes sense that he's talking about two different phases of his coming. Well, to evaluate these two different ideas of is Christ coming before the tribulation or after the tribulation for believers, for us, for the church, I have to say I'm uncertain whether the Bible indicates He's coming for us before or after the tribulation. I've studied these passages and studied them and studied them, and I see the support for both, and I have not yet fully reconciled them in my mind. So the question that was offered was, what still needs to occur before Christ returns? Well, if Christ does rapture the church before the Great Tribulation, nothing still needs to occur before He returns. But if not, I would say the seven-year Great Tribulation still needs to occur before Christ returns. Since I'm uncertain on the timing, my answer is, I'd say nothing really needs to occur before Christ returns for His church. It could be a pre-trib return. Nothing really that I know of needs to occur, but I am convinced that the seven-year tribulation does need to occur before Christ returns to remove the wicked for judgment and establish His kingdom on earth. The other part of the question, and now we're going to move more quickly, the other part of the question was, what did Christ mean when he told his disciples in Matthew 24, 42 to keep watch as they anticipate his second coming? Turn with me again to Matthew 24, verse 40. This is where the doctrine becomes practical. Matthew 24 verse 40. Jesus says, then there will be two men in the field, one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left. Therefore, be on the alert. That phrase, be on the alert, is translated in NIV as keep watch. Be on the alert, keep watch, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But Let's just stop right there. Literally, this phrase, keep watch or be alert, means keep awake. It has figurative meanings of being on the alert, being watchful. And Jesus proceeds to explain what he means. And we need to know what he means because he's telling us to do something as we anticipate his return. What is he telling us to do here? It does not mean watch for signs that precede Christ's coming. Let's see what he means. Verse 42, be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming, but be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will. To keep watch, Jesus explains, is to be ready for His return at all times. And it is vitally important, brother and sister, friend, that you always be ready for the second coming of Christ. And there are two reasons why it is so vital that you always be ready for His return. The first reason Jesus gives in those verses, he says, you do not know when he will return. When he returns, he's going to surprise people. People are like, ah, I didn't expect him to come yet. He's going to surprise people. You do not know when he will return. And the second reason why it's vital that you be ready at all times is that your being ready has eternal consequences. Look at verse 45. He says, who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time. Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if the evil slave says in his heart, my master is not coming for a long time, and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him. and an arrow which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." In these verses, Jesus likens you to a slave whom his master put in charge of his household while he is away on a journey. Jesus is our Master. And He has entrusted to us the continuation of His ministry while He's away. What was His ministry about? It was about seeking and saving the lost. That was what was going on in the household of God. And Jesus, when He leaves, when He left with the ascension, He commanded us to carry on that ministry of seeking and saving the lost. He worded it this way, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Clearly, what God has entrusted us to do in His absence is to be making disciples, is to be pointing people to Jesus Christ. leading them to Him for salvation, and as they come to know Him as their Lord and Savior, establishing them in their faith. That is what we are to be about while our Master is away. Now, what Jesus says here is that when Christ returns, if He finds you to be faithfully making disciples, He will bless you. But, Jesus says, if he finds that you care less about his mission, you care less about making disciples, he's going to cast you into the place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In other words, if Christ finds you faithful when he returns, he's going to usher you into his blessed presence for the rest of eternity. But if not, He's going to cast you into hell for the rest of eternity. And Jesus does not create a third group. When He comes, you will either be found to be faithful, or you will be found to be not faithful. No middle ground. You line up in one of these two groups. Each of us does. The life of a genuine disciple And by a genuine disciple, I mean a genuine Christian. The life of a genuine Christian is a life of making disciples. You will hear other things, other places that say, well, you can believe in Jesus Christ and trust Him as your Savior and receive eternal life, but your life doesn't need to really line up with what matters to God. You can kind of live, go your own way, and then later on, you can surrender Him to the Lord, and that's growth in Christ. No! The Bible does not teach that! The only ones who are genuine disciples, the only ones who are genuinely saved, bear fruit of that salvation. And the fruit is that they are faithfully seeking to carry on the Master's business while He is away. That of seeking and saving the lost, making disciples. Christ does not save a person in order to make them into a moral person. Christ saves a person in order to make them like Christ. To be like Christ on this side of heaven is to carry on His ministry. It's not just to be a moral person. Now, a life of making disciples doesn't make the person a Christian, but it is the evidence of salvation. The question now is, in light of what Jesus has said is, are you personally ready for Christ to return? To answer this question, you must examine your life. Is there evidence of salvation? Is my life about making disciples? Is my life about carrying on the ministry of Jesus? If your life is not about making disciples, the Bible says you need to repent. That means to turn from whatever you are living for and to turn from that to Christ, asking Him for mercy, asking Him for grace, surrendering your life to His will that you would be making disciples, that you would be carrying on His ministry. If your life is not about making disciples, you need to trust in Jesus as your Savior. You need to trust in Him as your Lord. There's no other way to be saved. other than by God's grace, which as we turn from sin to Christ, surrendering to Him, trusting in Him, relying on His grace. We're not like, I'm going to make myself appealing to you by now going about making disciples. No. It's recognizing your spiritual bankruptcy. You have nothing to offer God, nothing to secure His favor. Recognizing His will, how far you fall short. Asking for God's forgiveness and the empowerment now to live for Him. If you have repented of your sins, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ, then Christ is transforming your life into one of faithfully carrying on His ministry of making disciples while you anticipate His return. If this is the case, you are heeding Jesus' words. Be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. The other part of the question that was given to me is this. What does Pastor Steve mean when he prays, come quickly, Lord Jesus? I love to pray that. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. I hope you like to pray that as well. This is something that all genuine Christians should pray for. If you're not a genuine Christian, do not pray for Christ to come quickly until after you have repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus. If Jesus comes before that time, you're lost. for eternity, which is the reason for great mourning and weeping. But if you know Christ, you should be praying. Come quickly. You should long for Christ to return. Philippians chapter 3 verse 20, Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. If Jesus is your Savior, this world is no longer your home. Your home is with Jesus in heaven. Your body that has been corrupted by sin is not fit for living in heaven with Christ. When Christ returns, we read here, He's going to transform your body into one like His, holy and fit to live with Him for eternity. And from that point on, you will live with Him for eternity. Because of this, we should eagerly wait for His return. Turn with me to Revelation 22, verse 20, for another thought on Christ coming, praying that Christ would come quickly, or another example of it. Revelation 22, 20. It says, he who testifies to these things, referring to Jesus who gave the revelation to John, he who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming quickly. And now here's how John the Apostle responds to that statement, Amen, come Lord Jesus. And if John prayed that, we should pray that. 1 Corinthians, don't turn there, but 1 Corinthians 16 is the end of 1 Corinthians, the book of 1 Corinthians. And it ends, in the last words, Paul writes the last words in his own hand, instead of using a secretary to do it. What words does he choose for those last few select words? One of the words is Maranatha. It's Aaron Medgar. It means, Our Lord, come, or come, O Lord. That was important, not only to John, but to Paul. It should be to us. When I pray, come quickly, Lord Jesus, what I'm thinking is this. Jesus, come this moment, if you are willing. Come to save me from the presence of sin in my life. Come to save me from the practice of sin. Because I know Jesus. And He's revealed to me how how wicked my sin is in His sight. I don't want to go on another moment with sin dwelling in me. So I pray, come Lord Jesus, so that He will remove this sin from me once and for all. 1 Corinthians 13.12 tells us, now we see in a mirror dimly, but then, that's when Christ returns, we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have also been fully known. Right now, Jesus knows you perfectly. Because He's God, He's omniscient. Our knowledge of Him, though, is so small in comparison. Because He's in heaven. We just have a revelation of Him, a written revelation. We don't see Him with our eyes. But when Jesus comes, we will see Him with our eyes. We will hear His voice with our ears. We will be able to touch Him. I'm looking forward to that. Because I love my Savior. I want to see Him. I don't like this distance between me and Him. Him being in heaven, me being down here. I want to be close to Him. So I pray, come quickly. And I also pray, come quickly, Lord Jesus. So He will come quickly to establish His kingdom on earth, to restore righteousness and peace. He will remove the curse. The world was not created with the curse on it. It was created good. When sin entered the world, God's curse came upon the world. It's all degenerating, deteriorating. There's sickness. There's death. There's all kinds of bad things. When Jesus comes, He's going to be, in several phases, removing the curse. establishing righteousness. It kills me when I read the news and somebody murders another person. I hope that should bother you. I hope you're not desensitized to that. A person made in the image of God being killed unnecessarily by another person out of hatred. That's wrong. repulsed by that. And because of how bad that is, I long for Christ to return so that He will bring an end to things of wickedness like that. He will judge evildoers. He will establish righteousness and peace. If you are eagerly awaiting for Christ, This will affect the way you live your life in concrete ways. We don't have time to go into the second question, but I want to show you how the second question is related to the first. 1 John 3 gives us the bridge between Christ's second coming and holiness. It says in 1 John 3, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself just as He is. It says that when Christ returns, like what I've talked about before, we will be made pure like Christ. We will share in His practical righteousness. And it says everybody who's hoping for that will seek to purify themselves as much as possible now on this side of heaven in the power of God for His glory. That is the response. to knowing and trusting in and treasuring the fact that Jesus will return and He will glorify you, the right response is now to purify ourselves. His will that we be pure, He's going to accomplish that, nothing's going to stop Him from doing that. Why don't I just, why don't I do as much as possible now to become pure like Christ? Which raises all kinds of questions. If I want to live a pure life before God right now, in a world that is full of sin, a world that largely is not following the Lord, if I have all these interactions, whether it's on TV or in person, with unbelievers who are influencing me in the wrong direction, where do I draw the line? was the question that was raised. Where do I draw the line? What is too much interaction with the world? What interaction with the world is okay? That was the question, and what I'll do is, because I've already written out the response to that, I will email that to those who I have an email address for, and I will print it up and put it in next week's bulletin, but I do not, I want to make sure we get back to Luke next Sunday, but you'll have the answer to that question. in written form. I think the answer is very important for all of us to consider. Well, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have revealed to us something of what is to come in the future. And Lord, I recognize that some of my interpretations of Scripture are inevitably wrong. If I knew what they were now, I would fix them. but you've not yet shown that to me. I look forward to being in heaven with you, Lord, and you continuing to guide me into the truth, that I might replace any false ideas I have believed or even taught with the truth. Lord, I thank you that we can, in this church, can have fellowship with one another while having differing views on the timing of Christ's return and the millennium and the tribulation. O Lord, may You not allow that to divide us in coming years. May we continue to be united. But Lord, may we not be complacent and go, well, it doesn't matter. Keep us studying Your Word. Keep us seeking to know what You have said about Christ's return. And O Lord, may You indeed come quickly. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.