And let us turn in our Bibles to Matthew 24, continuing in Matthew 24, looking at verses 36-51. We'll specifically be beginning reading at verse 32, and reading through the end of the chapter. So let us continue looking at what Jesus has to say about His second coming and our preparation for that. So let us read together God's Word, Matthew 24, beginning reading at verse 32. Now learn this parable from the fig tree. When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near at the doors. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and the other left. Watch, therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find him so doing. Assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and in an hour when he is not aware of, and will cut him in two, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Thus far the reading of God's word, may he add his blessing to our consideration of it this morning. Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, as we have been saying, as we think about Christ's first coming, we have an opportunity to think about Christ's second coming. To think about the fact that Jesus said, I am coming quickly. He reminds us that He will return. The prophecies of Jesus coming are throughout the Scripture. And over time, people wondered what was going on. But of course we read and we see that when the angel spoke to Mary, they were very much looking for the coming of the Christ. Brothers and sisters, as we consider our lives, how do we live? What are we doing on this earth? How do we live in light of the fact that Christ will return? And he says, verse 44, Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. We need to understand No one knows the day nor the hour. Then how do we live? What do we do on this earth? We are called to be about the Master's work. To be about the things that serve our Savior. And that's the theme really of what we're looking at in our passage, the theme of our sermon this morning. In light of Christ's imminent return, Christians are to live lives of service to God. In light of Christ's imminent return, Christians are to live lives of service to God. In verses 36 through 44, we are reminded that no one knows the day or the hour. And in verses 45 through 51, we see that God's faithful servants will serve Him to the end. What are we doing? How do we live in this world as Christians who are expecting that Jesus will return? We live in a culture that's distracted right now with drones on the East Coast. We don't know what's going on there. Could it be aliens? Let's all get scared, right? First of all, no. How do we live in this world? Do we get upset? Do we get uptight about this happening over there, that happening over there? That certainly seems to be the message of the news. And I don't care if it's new news or old news. fear, uncertainty, doubt. How do we live as Christians in this world? And that's what we see in our passage. First of all, we're called to realize that no one knows the day or the hour. People have again and again throughout history said, Jesus is going to come this time, that time, this year. Jesus says not the day or the hour, but I can tell you the week and the year. That's such a joke. I want the t-shirt, like the band tour t-shirt that has all of the predictions of the end of the world here, the end of the world there. Jesus will come. And He will come to judge. But of that, remember we talked about the difference between this and that in Greek, of that day and that hour, no one knows. Not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. No one knows. In fact, elsewhere Jesus puts Himself in, Mark 13, says, nor the Son, but only the Father. That seems amazing to me, and it's beyond our understanding perhaps. But Christ is going to return. The day of judgment will come. The new heavens and the new earth will be. And they are already being prepared for God's people. And the world's going to be continuing merrily. We're reminded of Noah. As in the days of Noah. They didn't know that, verse 39, that the flood was coming until it took them all away. They were eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. The world will be continuing on its merry way. They didn't know, yet Noah preached to them. Noah was a preacher of righteousness, we're told. 2 Peter 2, 4 and 5, For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood on the world of the ungodly. We need to realize That they were unprepared. How do we live prepared for Christ's second coming? What we don't know can hurt us. Luke 17, 26 and 27, And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives and were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. So how do we live in light of that? How do we be a witness to this world of the coming of Christ and the coming of the judgment day? How do we bring that gospel to the world that will be destroyed in it if they do not turn? The coming of the Christ will take people by surprise. We read in verses 40 and 41, then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and another left. Two women at the grinding mill, one will be taken and another left. This is again a picture of what is often called the rapture. Those who ascend to meet Christ in the air, if we read 1 Thessalonians 4. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord." But until that day, we're told that they will grow up together. Think of Matthew 13, the wheat and the tares. Let both grow together until harvest. And at that time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, first gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them. Gather the wheat into my barn. And Christ is coming. We have to understand that this is the day of judgment. But for God's people, the day of judgment is not something to fear and to run away from. It's a day which we can look forward to. The day in which justice will be done. The day in which we will receive perfection. And Christ's coming will be in an hour we do not expect. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. It wasn't long ago there were the camping nights. Oh, it's not the day or the hour, but we can predict the year and the week. That's not how God's works. In fact, I would argue that right here we have a reminder that God's going to come on a day when we're not predicting it, when no one's predicting it. The point is, be ready. Not to live like the rest of the world that's being described here, living in ignorance and in sin. We're told it's coming like a thief in the night. At the time the master of the house does not expect 2 Peter 3.10, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. All of this stuff on this earth will get burned up. How do we live in light of that fact? It's obviously not he who dies with the most toys wins. He who dies with the most toys still dies. How do we live? How do we use the things of this world for an eternal purpose? So how are we ready? Do we go stand on a hill somewhere? No. How are we ready? If it's going to be like a thief in the night, people put up burglar alarms, but there's no burglar alarm for the coming of Christ. How do we live? 1 Peter 1.17, And if you call on the Father, who without partially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. live in preparation for the coming of Christ. And then we see examples of those who are not preparing. God's faithful servants will serve Him to the end. Who then is that faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season? Believers. Our servants given charge in this world, we are to represent God in this world. Who is a wise servant who is given a stewardship over the whole house? Going back all the way back to Genesis 1, to the cultural mandate. Then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. How do we live? By obeying God. Going back to God's commands already in the first hours of creation. Use this world. for God's glory. Notice what it says, continuing verse 45, who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household. God gives his people duties in this world, using, doing daily chores. in this world, serving God, representing God in it, having responsibility for our actions, how we serve God. We're all going to die. Or if Jesus returns, we will face judgment directly. Ecclesiastes 12.14, for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. And we are blessed if God returns to find us living obediently every day. Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find him so doing." To prepare for Christ's return, do we do something abnormal? Something out of the ordinary? It's not what we see here. Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find him so doing." Laboring faithfully, daily, working for Christ, for God's glory in this world. John 13, 17, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. Not just knowing what needs to be done, but actually doing it. And provided a blessing and further responsibility. Assuredly, I say to you, verse 47, that He will make Him ruler over all His goods. God blesses us with further responsibility when we are faithful to God. Again, Matthew 25, 21, his Lord said to him, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. God calls us to faithfulness. Faithfulness on this earth is how we gain mastery over more things. God gives, when we think of the parable of the talents, to each according to his ability. He didn't give everybody the same amount. And God then also provides responsibility on this earth for more, and in heaven for more. I don't see the scripture speaking of the new heavens and the new earth as being an eternal day at the spa. We will have duties, glorious duties in the new heavens and the new earth, just without the curse. It's not gonna be spending your whole time on a cloud playing a harp. And so then he also gives us negative examples. But if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and to drink with the drunkards, God's servants ought not abuse the position given to them, given to meanness and laziness. We read that he begins to beat his fellow servants saying, my master is delaying. How do we respond? Well, I can get away with things. I can use other people for my pleasure and for my desires. No. Reading in 2 Peter 3, and saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this, they willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were made of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." They say, where is He coming? The world's been forever! I don't have to worry about Jesus returning. God upholds the heaven and earth, and they are reserved for the fire that He has prepared for the day of judgment. To God, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. We cannot look at time in that way. We look at time as those who are stuck in time. But even scientists can realize that time is not something that one has to be stuck in. We will be stuck in it, I'm almost certain as human beings, we will not be able to go outside of it. But God looks down at time like we might look at a map. He knows the end from the beginning. A day is as a thousand years. God can look at a day with the specificity, with the clearness of looking at a thousand years. Or He can look at all of a thousand years just as it were one day. But the Lord is not slack concerning His promise. God is not going to forget His promise. to return, His long-suffering toward us. God is long-suffering. He suffers long with His people, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Until the last person God has called to repentance will repent, at that time Christ will return. And so we need to be very careful that we do not then think about misusing the people God has put around us, has put under authority on this earth for wickedness. And that we do not, on the other hand, go toward drunkenness, revelry, and laziness. And if that servant says, my master, in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and to drink with drunkards. Matthew 25 5, but while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him in an hour that he is not aware of. Christ's return, again, we are reminded, will be at a time we are not prepared from an external perspective for. As we said, the opposite of those people who think they can come up with a day or something like that in which Christ will return. So how do we live? We need to live prepared for Christ's return. God says, verse 51, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For those who are not prepared, judgment day is going to be a horror. We're told elsewhere that they will desire that the mountains and the hills fall upon them at the day of judgment. But brothers and sisters, it's a day which we can look forward to. It's a day we are called to prepare for, to live in preparation to. And God gives to us a blessing for all eternity. That day will come as a thief in the night. in which the heavens will pass away with great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat." That's 2 Peter 3, 10 through 12. The day is going to come. Jesus reminds us again and again in this passage, we don't know when it'll be. Peter reminds us, how do we live? We're called, since these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be? And he answers himself in holy conduct and godliness about the things of God. We live in a culture, and this word doesn't get used enough, I think, that is godless. What does it mean to be godless? I'm afraid there's too many people who call themselves Christians who are godless. Because they don't think about God at all. other than just a few times in a day. And brothers and sisters, we are called to godliness, to be about the things of God in this world as Christians. It can be easy for us to be carried away with the world about our own ideas, about our own things, and God doesn't even enter into it. As Christians, as those living prepared for the second coming of Christ, God should be central to who we are. That we would not follow after the things of man. That we would not be pulled aside and distracted by our own ideas or perhaps by the pleasure and the comfort of this world Instead of living prepared, knowing that Christ will come, Christ will return a second time. And that the heavens and the earth will melt with fervent heat. How do we live in preparation for that day? Amen. Let us bow our heads and our hearts before God's throne of grace in prayer, and we'll close this prayer together with the Lord's Prayer. Let us rise for prayer. Almighty, gracious Heavenly Father, we praise You for Your grace to us. that Christ came into this world, Your Son came into this world to die to pay the penalty for our sins. Help us, Lord, to live based on that fact all of our lives. We pray, Lord, that we would live preparing and ready for Christ's second coming. that we would not live like the world around us, even in good things, marriages, giving in marriage, and all the other things of this world, without focusing on the things of God. We pray, Lord, You would cause us always more and more to live and to use the things of this world for an eternal purpose, for Your glory, for Your honor, We pray, Lord, that we would not get lax knowing that you are not lax concerning your coming, but that you are long-suffering. You are waiting for that day. You have it prepared, but that it will come to us as a thief in the night. We do not know. Help us, Lord, to always live prepared for your coming. and to that end, to the glory and to the honor of your holy name. We pray this in thanksgiving that you have reminded us of that coming. We pray it as our Savior taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.