Now let's turn to Luke chapter 17. And we're going to take a little bit of another look at verse 20. But we're going to go from verse 20 through verse 37. I came across this article this week. And we, as fallen men, who though born again, we still have a tendency to focus on all our troubles. So this article says, it is a gloomy moment in the history of our country. Not in the lifetime of most men has there been such grave, deep apprehension. Never has the future seemed so incalculable as at this time. Domestic economic situation is in chaos. Our dollar is weak throughout the world. Prices are so high as to be utterly impossible. The political cauldron seethes and bubbles with uncertainty. Russia hangs, as usual, like a cloud, dark, silent on the horizon. It is a solemn moment of our troubles no man can see the end. Well that quote is from Harper's Magazine, October 10, 1847. The names and events change over time. from the time of the fall of Adam. It's always been this way. The events, particulars change. But as Christians, we know only Jesus can deliver us from this corruption. It's thousands of years into its history. And still today, we look at not only those troubles, but our own personal trials and struggles, family matters, health problems, financial issues, an increasingly immoral culture. But no more immoral than Sodom and Gomorrah. No more immoral than in the days of Noah. No more immoral than the days of Hitler or Nero. And yet we ask, how long, O Lord? How long until you deliver us from this wickedness? Well, last Lord's Day, we began to look at verses 20 and 21 here in Luke. And Luke told us that some of the Pharisees had some questions. They were kind of looking for a kingdom to come too. They weren't entirely satisfied with the way things were in their day. God had promised a Messiah. Now here's this rebel out there preaching the kingdom of God. They didn't believe him. They didn't believe in him. But yet they had questions for him. And they would mock him with these questions at times. He'd spoken of the coming of the kingdom of God. And they were saying to him, Well, you've said so much about this kingdom of yours. We haven't seen anything of it. Where is it? When will it come? The Jews were not longing for the kingdom of God in the same way that Christians do today. We're looking for the eternal kingdom, the new Jerusalem. We're not looking for some earthly kingdom. But they were. So we hear this mockery in their inquiry. They imagined an earthly kingdom of their Messiah, whoever that would be. They imagined this Messiah would bring victory over Rome. And if Jesus had done that, if He'd brought victory over Rome and established a kingdom in Jerusalem, they would have welcomed Him. They would have honored Him in every way. But He did not bring such a kingdom. No, His kingdom is not of this world. People want to bring His kingdom down to this world, but it's not of this world. And He was rejected in part by the Jews because He didn't bring this earthly kingdom. They thought of Him as anything but a king. And so he answered them in verses 20 and 21. He says, "...the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. Nor will they say, Look, here it is, or there it is. For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." The kingdom of God is not earthly. It's not of this earth. It's not carnal. It's not yet visible. It will be one day. It's a spiritual kingdom which brings the rebirth of the spirits of the people of Christ, and in which God right now rules in their hearts. And in Christ, when He came the first time, the kingdom of God had come among men. Both Jesus and John the Baptist had preached what? Repent. Repent. The kingdom of God is at hand. After casting out demons, the Pharisees said to him, Well, he's casting out demons by the power of Satan, Beelzebul. But he said, No, if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. And now in our passage here in Luke chapter 17, Jesus again affirmed that in him the kingdom of God had come unto men. He said, you don't need to look for the kingdom in signs because the king is in your presence. It's right before you. He's right before you. But one day, he said, one day it will come visibly. It'll be manifested in all its glory and power and majesty in all the world. Everyone will see it. And that day you won't need to look for it. Jesus connected this Word to the healing of ten lepers that we saw last week. He heals these men and says the kingdom of God is here in your midst. He came as a prophet, priest, and king. He's serving as our priest right now. Where he mediates with the Father in heaven for his people. In our passage this morning, he spoke as a prophet of things to come. And he used, in speaking of his return, some of the same words that he had used in Matthew 24 when he was speaking of God's judgment on Jerusalem, which would come in 70 A.D. Now this shouldn't surprise us. The characteristics of one judgment of God would naturally bear some similarities to another judgment of God. Today he's talking about the final judgment. And many view God's destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and His preserving of His elect in that judgment as a kind of foreshadowing of His second coming in judgment and glory at the last day. Jesus, who had been speaking to the Pharisees, now turns to speak to His disciples. And He told them of things that lay ahead. He said to them, The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. He was going to leave them. He told them that they were going to face times when they would long to see Him again, but that they'd have to wait until the day appointed by God. There's a phrase he uses here, verse 22, the days of the Son of Man. He uses the same phrase in verse 26. Verse 24, he speaks of the Son of Man in His day. All three places, he's speaking of the same thing. And in verse 30, he defines what he meant in those verses. They both refer to the day the Son of Man is revealed. You can see this in verse 30. Now this can only be the day of His return in judgment and glory. when He comes to gather His people to Himself and judge the unbelieving. And Jesus told them that even as they were waiting for His return, there were going to be some who would claim He had returned. False Christs, false prophets. They'll say to you, look here, look there. But don't go away. Don't run after them. 1848, I believe it was, a false priest named William Miller gathered a bunch of people, hundreds of them, and said, I've got the date. I know when he's coming. Don't worry about your farms. Leave your crops. Leave your animals. Leave everything and come up to the top of this mountain with me. And they did. The Lord didn't come. told them. And this is how gullible people can be. Oh, I missed by a year. My calculations were off. We got guys with calculations all over the place today. He gets them to come back, many of them, a year later in 1849. Another false prophecy. False prophets have always been with us. And they're going to be until the day Christ returns. People will claim that the Son of Man has returned. There are people saying that today. He's out there somewhere in South America. And they'll seek to persuade people to believe them and follow them. But folks, when Jesus returns, no one's going to have to wonder about it. His return is not going to be a secret. That's a myth. In verse 24, Jesus flatly rejects the idea that His return will somehow be secret. Here's what He said. He said, when the Son of Man comes, His appearing will be like lightning flashing across the sky. That's what His return is going to be like. Like lightning flashing across the sky. Folks, He shows Himself here. The idea of any secret rapture is a man-made fiction. His appearance will be glorious and spectacular. For just like lightning, he says, when it flashes out of one part of the sky and shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. His return like lightning flashing in the sky. We're going to read what Paul says about it in just a moment. But Scripture only speaks of Jesus returning once. Not three times, not four times. He returns once. Gathers His people to Himself. Judges the world. And when He comes, His coming will not only be visible, it will be spectacular. Spectacular. It'll be glorious. First Thessalonians 4.16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout. That doesn't sound secret, does it? With the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 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 how long will we be with the Lord? So we shall always be with the Lord. Always. He takes us to eternity. O glorious day! When He returns, all the dead will be raised. 1 Corinthians 15-21, For since by a man came death, by a man also came resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all men died, so also in Christ all will be made alive. These bodies will die, both of the righteous and the wicked. But all men are immortal spirits. All men will be raised in bodies fitted for eternity. Fitted for a glorious eternity in heaven or for the unbelieving, for eternal misery in hell. There'll be no more death. And that day, Jesus said, will be a day of judgment for all men. John 5.28. Go ahead and turn there. John 5.28. One of the most ignored verses in all of Scripture. And one of the most important. One of the most instructive. John 5, 28. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming, an hour, a moment, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice. Now what does he mean by all? Well, he'll tell you in verse 29. All who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come forth. This is the resurrection of the body. Those who did the good deeds to the resurrection of life. Those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. He's raising everybody at the same hour. Paul confirms this in 2 Thessalonians 1.6. For after all, It is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted, and to us as well, when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven. Same words Jesus used. With His mighty angels, not secret, in flaming fire. And what's He going to do? He's going to deal out retribution to those who do not know God. The day He returns in flaming fire with His angels. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction the day He returns. Away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. When's this going to happen? This is going to happen, verse 10, on the day that He comes to be glorified in His saints. Same day. On that day, and to be marveled among all who have believed. for our testimony to you was believed," Paul says. So Christ returned. He says, "...the bodily resurrection of all men, the gathering of all His people to Himself, and the judgment on all the wicked will all occur on the same day." That's what Jesus says. I know there are others who say something else. But this is what Jesus says. But long before His coming, His return, which at the time He spoke was at least 2,000 years in the future, and even before His departure from the earth, our Savior had to finish the work of His first advent, the work of His first coming. He had to suffer, He said. The eternal purpose and decree of God had to be fulfilled. And for that to be accomplished, he must suffer many things, he said. Matthew 20, 17, he adds, and be handed over by the Jews to the Romans to be killed and then to be raised up on the third day. And so our Lord said, first there's a work that I've come to do. A mission I've come to accomplish. The redemption of those I came to save. Verse 25, First he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And we know that 40 days after he was raised, he ascended back to his father in heaven in a cloud. Acts chapter 1, verse 9. After he said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 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, and with flaming fire, and with the voice of an archangel, with the shout of a trumpet. And it's that day of His return that Jesus speaks of in our passage this morning. Now, how will we know when He's about to return? I can get down to the bookstore there and find you all kinds of books telling you when it is. What will be the signs of His coming? Well, Jesus said there won't be any signs. Somebody tells you there's signs, they are contradicting Jesus. The day of His return, He says, will come without warning. He will come at an hour when people least expect Him. That's what he says. David's return will be like the two most devastating and destructive examples of judgment recorded in all the Old Testament. Look at verse 26, Luke 17. And just as happened in the days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating. They were drinking. They were marrying. They were being given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Jesus says it will be like that. It will be the same as happened in the days of Lot. They were eating. They were drinking. They were buying. They were selling. They were planting and building. But on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. That's what his return will be like. Sudden. Until the day that the Son of Man comes, Life is going to go on normally. Now normally is a rather corrupt, immoral existence in this world anymore. But that normal existence is going to go on. People eating, drinking, getting married, having families, buying things, selling things, planting, harvesting, building. All that's going to be just going on. Jesus' return will be sudden. And the very suddenness of His coming points to the necessity that every man be prepared right now, because He could come at any time. Every man must be prepared today and every day for His return. You know how many over the course of human history have ignored this warning? Statistics I've read say there's somewhere in the neighborhood of seven, seven and a half billion people in the world today. Less than 1 billion even claim to be born-again Christians. There are others who claim to be Christians of some other stripe. But there's at least 6 billion people in the world right now who are not prepared for Jesus' return. There's no second chance when He returns. That's it. Now Jesus uses the flood, the days of Noah, and the raining of fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah as the examples to show the suddenness of His return. During the days of Noah, Peter called Him that preacher of righteousness. Although there's no indication in Genesis about Noah doing any preaching. Peter says he did. And Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit as he wrote. But the people, whatever Noah preached, were carrying on day after day, utterly unconcerned about the judgment to come. Do you know any people who are utterly unconcerned about the judgment to come? I know an awful lot of them. Utterly unconcerned. Just like in the day of Noah. Just like in the days of the flood. They failed to realize what their standing was before God until it was too late. Suddenly this cataclysm, as Scripture calls it, the great flood came and destroyed them all, Jesus says. People try to talk about Genesis as though it's speaking of fictional events. Jesus is talking about the flood here. Genesis chapter 6. It happened. Or Jesus is a liar. If Jesus is a liar, we can all go home. But we know he's not. He's the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way to the Father. And he says, the flood came suddenly and destroyed them all. And it was no different in Sodom and Gomorrah, in Lot's day. Lot was not some paragon of virtue. Neither was Noah, for that matter. But just as in the days of Noah, when, as God said, the wickedness on the earth was great, and the hearts of men were only evil continually, the evil in Sodom and Gomorrah was great. Men lusting after one another, inviting God's judgment. So they were unprepared for His return. Jesus' return will come just as the flood came, just as the fire and brimstone rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah. suddenly and without warning. See the problem with these guys going around saying he's returning this year, that year, this date, is that that leads some people to think I don't have to get ready until that point in time. And somebody must be leaving these people because they're making a fortune off of their books and their movies. You got to be ready today because you don't know when he's coming back. God will never abide sin, folks. Never. That's why He sent His Son to the cross, to cleanse us of our sin so we could be in fellowship with Him. He can't be in the presence of sin. He will not abide it. And so every man must repent of his sin and believe in the gospel and receive forgiveness from Jesus Christ. That's the preparation every man must make for Christ's return. And need I say, our lives are the expression of what we really believe. So though neither Lot nor Noah was a sinless man, they both made the necessary preparations. When God said, do this, they obeyed Him. Told Lot, get out of town. Told Noah, build an ark. Spend the next 120 years of your life building something that only can have a purpose in water of which there was none. But they obeyed God. And while multitudes perished, in both cases, sudden destruction coming upon everybody else, they were saved. Jesus said in verse 30, look at it. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. It's going to be just the same. Now the day the Son of Man is revealed, obviously, can only refer to the day of Christ's visible return, when He will be revealed. And that day, He said, He will raise every man bodily. Paul wrote of that day of the Lord, 1 Thessalonians 5, 3, while they are saying peace and safety. and destruction will come upon them suddenly. Same thing Jesus is saying here. Like labor pains upon a woman with child. And they will not escape. This is the message of the Bible, you know. That we are sinners. That Christ came and died to pay the price for the sins of those who would believe in Him. and that He's coming back in judgment. Those who believe in Him will be called into heaven. Those who don't will suffer eternal agony. Verse 31, Jesus uses a verse He also used in Matthew 24 when He was talking about the destruction of Jerusalem that was coming in 40 years. He says, "...on that day the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out, and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back." Now I suspect that when Jesus returns in glory in the sky, the last thing anybody's going to be thinking about is going into their house to get anything. I expect he's using this as a metaphor, a hyperbole. What he's doing is drawing a comparison between his coming and judgment on Jerusalem in 70 AD, which was within that generation, and his final return and judgment on the last day. The judgment on Jerusalem may well be a foreshadowing of his coming on the last great day. Now verse 32, Jesus isn't done with Lot. And Lot's wife. He says, remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife. One final warning. When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot's wife was leaving with him and she turned and looked back. God said, don't look back. She was evidently still longing for things of this world. Things she was leaving behind. And as a result, she perished on the spot. She was destroyed along with all those in those two wicked cities. Remember that, he says. Don't be looking back to this world. You know, you can go to the area of the Dead Sea today and see the evidence of God's judgment on those cities. The unbelievers say, well, an asteroid hit it and did this and that. Made it catch on fire. You can see the evidence of God's destruction. You know what there is there now? Salt. Salt. You can go to Jerusalem. But if you want to see the temple, it's been gone for 1950 years. As Jesus said, it was going to tumble to the ground. God destroyed Jerusalem. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You really believe God will not bring down His judgment on those same abominations that are in the world today? On all those who don't believe Him? You talk about Russian roulette. These people are playing Russian roulette who don't believe with six bullets in the gun. Jesus was saying, and particularly with this reference here to Lot's wife, to those who had begun to follow Him, don't look back. Don't look back to the days before you heard the gospel, before you heard My voice. Don't look back to the things of this world. Look ahead. Because He's coming back. If you keep looking back to the things of this life, you will miss the glory that lay ahead. Psalmist wrote, and the writer of Hebrews quoted this three times. Today, if you have heard his voice, do not harden your heart to him, as Lot's wife did. She hardened her heart to the voice of God, as the sons of Jacob did in the wilderness, and when they sent Christ to the cross. If you have heard his voice speaking to you, don't look back. Look at this gospel of Luke. It's filled with red letters. If you have one of these red letter Bibles that shows when Jesus is speaking. This whole gospel is Jesus speaking to us. So don't look back. Look to Him and go forward away from the filth, the debauchery, the corruption, the wickedness that we've left behind if we've come to follow Him. And he warns again. Something he said back in chapter 9 verse 24. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life will preserve it. In this context, he's talking about those clinging only to the things of this world in their present life with no thought of eternity. There's only one really significant event in our future and that's his return. And maybe being a witness being a servant of God, a servant of Christ in the salvation of somebody else. By witnessing to Him, by our words, and by our actions. The earthly-minded people of Noah's day, they were looking at the things of this world. And Ma's wife, she couldn't let go of this world. Couldn't let go. So our Lord calls out to all men, to seek not the things of this world, but to seek His kingdom and His righteousness. And His righteousness is imputed, credited to all who believe in Him. That's how God has chosen to redeem His people. By imputing, by crediting the sinless life of Christ to those who trust in His sinless life and in His offering of Himself on the cross. Verse 34, I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken, the other will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place. One will be taken and the other left. Some versions have a verse 36, which really teaches the same truth. But verse 36 does not appear in most of the ancient manuscripts. But again, it essentially is the same teaching as verses 34 and 35. And here's what he's saying. When he returns, all mankind, both living and dead, and all, of course, of the dead are going to be raised, will be divided into two groups forever. And you don't get to take an unbelieving spouse with you. And if you're the unbeliever, your spouse will go with Christ without you. That's what he says here. Two in one bed. One will be taken, the other left. Here's what Christ said in Matthew 25, 31. Let's turn there if you could. Matthew 25, 31. Again, He's talking about one day here. But when the Son of Man comes in His glory... Well we've already heard of that from Paul in 1st Thessalonians 4. ...and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He's going to put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. And He's going to say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed of My Father. Inherit the kingdom that has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Verse 41, turn to those on his left, who's already separated, and say this, Depart from me, O cursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. So a physical nearness, a physical relationship, isn't going to save anyone. And it's not going to condemn anyone. In the judgment, we will all be on our own. Though two are in bed together, husband and wife, or working side by side, Christ is going to gather the believers to Himself, and the unbelieving will be left to their doom. And when that final day comes, every opportunity to be saved is gone forever. And folks, that day may come tomorrow. Parable, Matthew 25, 10. Jesus teaches that the door will be shut to all those who did not respond to the gospel in faith and repentance. So that day is going to mean eternal separation between those who believed in Jesus, who have trusted in His offering of Himself on the cross, and who have surrendered their lives to Him and to His will on one hand, and those who have not on the other. Well verse 37, the disciples have a question for Jesus. And it seems to me like a strange question. They want to know where, Lord? Where? He said to them, and he doesn't answer directly. Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered. Jesus doesn't answer their question directly. That's not unusual for Him. He says, in the day of judgment, the wicked unbelieving will be consumed as vultures consume the carrion. Seven years ago, I can't believe it's that long ago. Actually, it's a little over seven years ago, I set out to study and teach a series what the Bible says about the future. A study I thought was going to take maybe a few weeks. And it turned out to be an entire year. I set aside all the fiction. I set aside all the prophecy experts. All the movies. And I just asked, what does the Bible teach about the future? And the series is there. And I try to exegete every passage all in the New Testament. But this is what the Bible says. In clear language, not symbolic language, but in clear language. It says Jesus will return. There is zero question that Jesus will return. And He will return, Acts chapter 1, verse 11, in the same manner in which He left. Angel said that to the apostles. Verse we read already, 1 Thessalonians 4, 16. He's going to descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. 1 Corinthians 15, 22. As in Adam, all men die, so in Christ all are going to be made alive. All men will be raised bodily from the grave. They'll be raised to imperishable bodies, fitted for eternity. First Corinthians, again 1542 and following. And Paul says this is all going to happen in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. He goes on in that same passage. When all are raised, death will have been forever vanquished. Swallowed up in Christ's victory. There will be no more death. And by the way, back in 1 Thessalonians 4.16, the dead in Christ will rise first before those who are still alive. Matthew 13.30, Matthew 25 as we read. When Jesus returns, all will be judged at the same time. He'll have the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. I'm going to read you John chapter 5, verse 28 again. This is what Jesus said. An hour is coming. An hour, not any other period. ...in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice... In the tombs. ...and will come forth, those who did the good deeds, to a resurrection of life, and those who committed evil deeds, to a resurrection of judgment. In Acts 1042, Jesus has been appointed as the judge. We have to remember when we're reading these things, Bible prophecy is not given to us so we can speculate about uncertain things, things God hasn't revealed. But it's given so we can apply it to how we live now in light of what God has promised and warned in the future. Because Jesus has made it clear, brethren, His terrifying judgment is going to come. And it's going to fall suddenly, but certainly, on all who do not come into His kingdom by faith in Him in this life. That's a fact. All the judgments of God that have come throughout human history may be rightly seen as foreshadowings of that final judgment on the day of the Son of Man. So what Jesus is saying to us, nearly 2,000 years after He spoke these words, is the same thing He was saying to His apostles that day. It's the same thing He was saying to people in the fourth century, to Augustine and John Chrysostom, and the great theologians of that day, and sinners of that day. He's saying the same thing He was saying to Calvin and Luther and Knox and Zwingli and all of the great Reformers. He says, I am coming back. Be ready. Be ready. You're not going to have any time to get ready when He's on His way. On the day I return, He says, and I will return. On that day, I will bring my eternal kingdom in all its fullness and glory. You won't know the day. You won't know the year. No one will know. My return will be entirely unexpected. So always be ready. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for not only this warning, this assurance for those of Your children, but for opening our eyes to the knowledge of these glorious truths. Like the apostles, we long to see the Lord coming with His angels. We long to hear that trumpet sound because we do trust in Him. We know that'll be a day of victory and glory that will last for all eternity. And Lord, we just are awed that You have revealed that much of Your plan to us. We can understand why You don't tell us the day, because You want us to be ready. You want our lives to be a preparation for Your return. But Lord, as we stand here this morning, we give You thanks, praise, and glory for what You've done and what You've said and for what You've prepared for those who love You. In Christ's name, amen.