Well good morning our dear Lakewood family. We hope this recording finds you all doing well and growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Just a couple of quick notes before I turn it over to Alex who will be bringing us a message from Mark chapter 13. We will continue to keep you updated via email on our meeting together. The latest plan is to meet again on June 7th but that could change to an either earlier or later time depending on how things unfold. We want to extend a very warm Happy Mother's Day greeting to all of our mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, mothers-in-law, expecting mothers, and any mothers I may have missed. We are so very thankful for the mothers in this church and for all the women in this church. The Lord has certainly smiled upon us by blessing us with such godly sisters. So on behalf of the elders, we want to say Happy Mother's Day to you all. We love you all very much. As has been said, we miss you all very dearly. So with that, I will open up our time here in prayer and then pass it over to Alex, who will bring us a message from God's word. Our father, we thank you for another opportunity to open up this marvelous text and to know that it is indeed God breathed. We pray, Lord, that you would continue to bring glory to your name by the reading of this text, by the hearing of this text, and the doing of this text. We pray that you would change hearts through your word this morning, that you would transform us, shape us by this text, so that we may live our lives in accordance with your will in a way that would bring glory to your name. You alone are worthy of all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise that we have to give this morning. Be with our people as they hear this truth. Comfort them through this passage. Strengthen their faith in you during this time. Draw them closer to you this morning, we pray. We pray for our leaders. We pray for our president. We pray for this nation as a whole, that it would turn from its apostasy and turn back to the living God. We also pray for our brother Alex, that you would speak through him this morning. that you would allow him to speak with boldness, the authority that comes from being indwelled with your spirit. Give him confidence in knowing that the power lies within the word and the spirit who inspired it. We love you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, Matt. And again, I have to say that it's a rather unusual thing to sit here and see all these empty chairs. I know the Lord wants to fill all these chairs, and we're waiting just another couple weeks, and we'll all be together again. Well, we want to turn now to Mark chapter 13. We finished Mark 13 today. We have the last section here, verses 32 to 37. Please open your Bibles to that section of Scripture. And I'm going to read it very slowly. But concerning that day and that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when that time will come. It is like a man going on a journey when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore, stay awake. For you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly. and find you asleep. And what I say to you, I say to all, stay awake. I've entitled this message, and you should have an outline in front of you, Watching and Working. I think these two words beautifully summarize the point of this passage. We are now ending Jesus' prophetic predictions to his disciples and all of his followers. Now many people will say that Jesus is a great religious teacher. He's a moral philosopher. But my friends, great teachers don't predict with absolute authority and certainty the future. And not only the future, the very end events of this planet and the planet and the human race. They don't do that. The only people I know who do this are charlatans and lunatics. Jesus is not using a crystal ball or reading palms or throwing sticks into the air. He speaks from his own authority. Now, I would like you to look at verse 31, what he says. In fact, he goes so far to say, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Did you see that? This is a stupendous declaration. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. He puts himself on the same level with the Old Testament, and thus says the Lord. Now just think about this for a moment. Don't let this go by you. What if Matt Bowen got up some Sunday morning and said, friends, everything I say to you will be here when the heavens and the earth pass away. My words will go on forever and ever. Well, we'd say he's joking. He's a jokester. You know he likes to fool around. But what if he was serious? Well, we'd have to call Lindsay and say, dear, come and get Matt. He thinks that his words will outlast the universe. Could you bring some strong medication for Matt or get a good doctor? This would be crazy. Yet we sit here with hundreds of millions of other people believing what Jesus just said. If this is not true, then we're crazy. We're self-deceived. We're the dupes. But if it is true that His words will outlast the universe, it demonstrates the absolute greatness and majesty of Jesus Christ. He's the incomparable Christ. There's no one else like Him. His words will be words for eternity, and all people will be judged by His words. Thus we can trust Him, because His words are eternal. Now let's begin looking at the passage directly. Number one in your outline, concerning that day and that hour. Verse 32, let's read it again. But concerning that day and that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Now last week, if you can remember back that far, we learned the lesson of the fig tree. And the lesson of the fig tree was that we should be able to read the signs of the times and know and have approximate idea, verse 29, look at it, that he is near and at the very gate. Look at that again because it's gonna help us interpret what's ahead of us. He is near, a person, at the very gate and we can actually have an approximate knowledge of this time. Jesus says, when you see these things, verse 29, you see these things, that's the things that Matt has been talking about, the great tribulation and all the signs and wonders during this time. He's near, he's at the gate. Now, when we come to verse 32, we begin with concerning that day. So we have a subject change here, and we have a word change here, too. Nowhere else does he say that day, that hour. Now, most Bible teachers will apply that day and that hour to the second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ when he comes to the earth. that is a very possible interpretation. However, I don't take that interpretation. I take the interpretation that that day is a shortened form of the day of the Lord, and you'll see why as we unfold the passage, that that's a better interpretation. If that day and that hour refers to the day of the Lord, that would mean it would include Not just the coming of Christ to the earth, but the tribulation, the great tribulation, the second advent, the millennium, even into the new heavens and new earth. Thus it refers to the entire day of the Lord, which would start with the rapture. The day of the Lord is the entire end time events. It's the time when God directly involves himself and controls all the events. It's God's day, and that will include judgment, fulfillment, and blessing, ending in the millennium and on to the eternal state. So, that day, that hour, is a shortened statement for the entire end time event, seen as a whole, which as we know will start with the rapture and will end with the new heavens and new earth. Now, the big point is this. it will appear unexpectedly. Only God the Father knows exactly that day and that hour. Now, in the parable of the fig tree, the emphasis was on knowledge of the end, which can only refer to the great tribulation period, and actually at the end of the great tribulation period and the coming of Christ. So it's very limited, the fig tree illustration. Those at the time of the great tribulation know approximately the Lord's return. It's near. It's at the gate. All right. That's simple. Whereas the interpretation I will take applies right now. And so be watching for the day of the Lord now. For us, this would mean the imminent return of Christ, which we should be watching for right now. It is an imminent event for every generation, not just for those at the end of the Great Tribulation. This day, this hour will apply to the original disciples who were standing in front of our Lord and to us today 2,000 years later. Someone has said about the rapture, the rapture is not conditioned by any preliminary events. can happen at any time. So be watching and be working. Now, this brings us to point number two. No one knows the day or the hour. Let's read this in verse 32 again. You'll notice in verse 32 how much is contained in this one verse. And it reminds me of a statement by Martin Luther when he speaks of the Bible as the economy of words. one verse can say more than we can say in five pages in a book and that's what you have here but concerning right there we got a change of subjects that day that hour we need to know what that means and i just told you what i think it means no one knows not even the angels in heaven now here's something Unusual? Nor the Son, but only the Father. Wow, this section is chock-full of ideas. We could just spend the rest of the time on verse 32, but we won't do that. Don't be afraid. We're going to go on. Now, here is a key point in the passage. No one knows that day. Not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, only the Father. This time is so special that only God the Father knows the exact time. Even angels don't know, and they know a lot. And they know that when this time starts, they're going to be very busy. They're going to be very involved. During the whole day of the Lord, angels are very, very involved. We know that from the book of Revelation. We also know from the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, at these special times, angels are highly active. So they would be very interested in this time. They're waiting their final marching orders. but they don't know when it will be. This is something that's the prerogative of God the Father. Now we come to a very surprising statement. Even the Son, that is Jesus, does not know the day or hour. Now, I don't mean to do this, but we have to have a little theology lesson at this point. You're going to have to put on your thinking caps because we've got a huge issue here which we can use to learn more about Jesus Christ our Lord. So let's tackle it now together. Theology 101. Who is Jesus Christ? Can't get any more basic than that. Now usually Mark says the son of man, but here he uses a very personal designation, the son. The son is the one who is in the closest relationship to the father. It emphasizes unique intimacy. The one who is in the most intimate relationship to God the Father, the son who he cries out from heaven, this is my beloved son whom I've well pleased, he does not know. Now how can this be? This raises some very serious theological questions. How does Christ not know? Let me repeat that. You gotta have the right question. How does Christ not know? How does the Son not know? Because it involves the Son. It's coming back. God is omniscient. Jesus is God in the flesh. The answer must be in his true humanity. We believe the Son to be one person in two natures, truly God, truly man. Two natures, each is not compromised by the other. Now, let's just take a minute, and I will only take a minute, to reach back in our own Christian history to this question of the person of Christ. I would say when you look at the great ecumenical councils of the early years of Christianity, this was the burning question over and over. So I'm going to give you a quick survey. It is going to be quick. Go all the way back to the year 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea, and there they battled out the question of the full, perfect divinity of Jesus Christ. And this was over a man named Arius. He denied the divine nature of Christ. And so at the Council of Nicaea, it was established by bishops from all over the Western world, Eastern world, and quote, the Son of God is true God, from true God, begotten, not made, of one substance, with God the Father. The next council is the Council of Constantinople, 381 AD. And here, we have the full humanity of Christ reaffirmed. Well, first of all, Nicaea was reaffirmed. Jesus is very God. But here, it's his humanity. And Athanasius, one of the great theologians of the early years said, Christ Jesus takes unto himself a body, and that of no different sort from ours, except for sin. And then, Let's look at a third council. There's more, but these are four important ecumenical councils dealing with the person of Christ. The next is the Council of Ephesus, 431. Are you with me? Some people hate history. I love history. History is wonderful. If you don't love history, you're doomed to repeat it. Now, the Council of Ephesus, it was dealt with an historian heresy, and here it was agreed that Christ is not two separate persons, but one person. And then the last council I want to mention, very, very important, it comes right to our passage here, the Council of Chalcedon, 451 A.D., 451. The Council of Chalcedon, you should all know, you've all heard of the Chalcedonian decree? It was at Chalcedon that it was agreed there is one person, with two natures. One person with two natures. It maintained the two natures without confusion or change, separation, or division. There was no mixing of the two natures and producing a new hybrid. With some people, we're actually teaching that. So, our Lord Jesus Christ is completely unique. He's the God-man. There is no other God-man. He is one Lord Jesus Christ, but he partakes perfectly of divinity and perfectly of humanity. Did you hear that? I want to repeat it just in case you were napping, because I know you're sitting home on your couch drinking coffee. Some of you may be even in your pajamas right now. By the way, no one here is in their pajamas. Although I do see some brothers without socks on. At Chalcedon, it was agreed that our Lord Jesus Christ is one Lord Jesus Christ, partaking of two natures, perfectly divinity, perfectly human, humanity, truly God, truly man. John Walvo says, he assumed a humanity subject to limitations. This is how we're going to explain the son doesn't know. He assumed a humanity subject to limitation. There is a voluntary self-limitation on Christ's part. Now, let me give you an example. Luke 2, 58, we read that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature. In other words, Jesus had to go through all the regular stages of human development. So sometimes when I teach this doctrine, it's a very important fundamental doctrine in our worship, in our service, who is Jesus Christ, Over and over, if you see the magazines at Christmas, every magazine, Time Magazine, Newsweek, every one, I've got a whole collection of them I've saved over the years. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, Chalcedon made it very clear, and it's exactly what you have in John chapter 1. He is one person with two natures. Truly God, truly man. No one else like him. But it says in Luke that he grew. How does God grow? So I'd like to use this question. It's not a trick question. People think it's a trick question. Did Jesus, was Jesus born with teeth? When Jesus was born, did he speak Aramaic or Hebrew? Well, it's not a trick question. No, he wasn't born with teeth and he wasn't speaking Aramaic when he was born. He was a baby like every other baby. He had to learn to read and write. He had to learn the Aramaic Hebrew language, maybe even learn the Greek language. He had to learn things. Well, they say, well, the Bible says Jesus was perfect. Yes, he was perfect at every stage at that stage of life. He was perfect as a infant, perfect as a child, perfect as a teenager, perfect as an adult. He was perfect at every stage of life at that stage of life. Philippians chapter 2 verse 7 says he emptied himself. What does that mean? How does God empty himself? Well, he gave up the independent exercise of his attributes. He never gave up his attributes, he gave up the independent exercise of them. Or as many theologians have correctly said, he emptied himself by addition, taking a human nature. The second person in the triune Godhead adds to himself a human nature, a true human nature. And then he subjects himself to the father's will that's all through the gospel of john over and over and over again He does all things in obedience to the father He functions under the will and direction of the father in the spirit Acts 10 38 very interesting verse how god anointed jesus of nathareth with the holy spirit and with power Now listen to this, this is very interesting. Revelation 1.1, first verse. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him. Did you hear that? God gave Jesus the revelation. Acts 1, 6 and 7. This is very clear. So when they had come together, the apostles and Jesus, after his resurrection, they asked him, Lord Jesus, will you, Jesus, at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Perfectly good question. He said to them, now, if you have your study Bibles, you should mark this. It is not for you to know the times or seasons. Mark this. that the Father has fixed by His own authority. The Father has fixed by His own authority. So Jesus is acknowledging that it's in the prerogative of God the Father to set these dates and do these things. Now what we are talking about here is the roles and functions within the Godhead. For example, the father sends the son, the son obeys the father. It's never reversed. The son doesn't send the father, the father doesn't obey the son. This is functioning within the Godhead. Now the point is this, no one knows that day or that hour, neither does the son who puts himself under the father. It is the father's prerogative to set that date. No problem, it's the functioning within the Godhead. So we just had this tremendous theological lesson. I hope you haven't fallen asleep during this time because we want to know everything we can about our Lord Jesus Christ. And these are great truths, mighty truths, powerful truths. And when we understand them, the more we understand, the more we'll worship, the more we want to serve Him. He's the incomparable Christ. There's no one else like Him. He cannot be put in the pantheon of gods. You cannot say He's one of many gods. I hope you will really appreciate these deep doctrines, and I only just covered it briefly. So let me tell you something you can do. You can actually go online right now, if you have a computer, and you can look up the Council of Nicaea or Constantinople, Chalcedon, and you will read some great material about the person of Jesus Christ. Or you can go to John's Gospel. Some of the great mysteries of the relationship within the Godhead are in John's Gospel. It's a wonderful gospel. And by the way, in my own devotional readings now, I'm reading the gospel of John. What a book. What a book. It has to be divinely inspired. Now, free in your outline. Be on guard. Be on guard. Stay awake. Verse 33. Be on guard. Stay awake, for you do not know when the time will come. So we come now to a key point that's all through this passage repeated again and again. And that's this. Stay awake, be on guard, be alert. In the light of the ominous predictions that our Lord has given of the end times called these things, he says, be on guard, keep away. He uses actually three Greek words in this passage, and the repetition of these words are meant for Ephesus. They're almost synonymous words. In this passage, he uses these words to emphasize Do not fall asleep, do not be inattentive, do not be oblivious to what is going on around you. These words emphasize vigilance, awareness, attentiveness, watchfulness, looking for. Now, the reason they're to be wide awake, ears open, eyes open, the reason is for, watch those little words, for you do not know when the time will come or the day or the hour. Since this is true, we must be watching. But not only watching, working. This is interesting. Let's look at the parable. A in your outline, the parable of the absent house owner. verse 34. It's a short little parable but it helps us in the interpretation of the entire passage. It is like a man going on a journey and when he leaves home he puts his servants in charge each with his work and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Now, I've broken this down into just four ideas. There's actually more ideas, but I think we'll get the essence of it. It's a very simple parable, but it communicates great truth, and it confirms the interpretation that I've been giving you. The key point here is this, watchfulness, faithful service. That was our title to this, watchful and working. All of this is in Christ's absence. So, four quick points. Begin with the beginning statement. It is like a man going on a journey. That sets the pace for the parable. It refers back to verses 32 and 33. It's like a man going on a journey. Who is this man? Well, it's very obvious, it's Jesus Christ. After his resurrection, he ascends into heaven, he sits at the right hand of God the Father, and he's waiting to come back again. He's on a journey. Well, he's on a journey from his home, which is this earth, for 2,000 years. Second thing, at the time he leaves his home, he puts his servants, notice the plural, in charge, now, if I have a study, Bob, I would mark this, each with his work. I'm gonna give you a minute to mark that, each with his work. Now these are bond servants, actually the Greek word is slave. They're the followers of Christ, they're Christians. This applies right now to us right now. Notice he gives them work. They're not standing around waiting for something to happen, nor are they running for their lives as we see earlier in the passage of chapter 13. They're faithfully carrying out the task the Lord has given them. Also, he puts his bond service as a group in charge of his home, and the work must be done while he's absent. Now, this is not a home like you're thinking of your home, maybe 2,000 square foot. This is an estate. So I was in New Jersey two years ago. It was my home state. I lived my first 20 years there and been there well over 100 times since, well over 100 times, sometimes three or four times a year. And a friend of mine said, I want to take you to this restaurant. I said, oh, great, take me to a restaurant. Well, we go to a part of New Jersey I've never been to. Well, it's no wonder it's a garden state, rolling hills with estates, not homes, estates. Every one of these houses had 50 to 100 square feet of area. Probably 15 to 20 rooms five car garages carriage house beautiful horses out in the pastures limousines Absolutely magnificent places estates the restaurant we went to is in these estates and Outside the restaurant were limousines where the chauffeur stayed so I said to my friend where does this money come from? He said it's wall street money. These people work in wall street and they stay in there several days a week. They have places in Manhattan, and this is where they come to the rest of the week. And these people that are here take care of the estate. Well, that's what Jesus is thinking of. He's thinking of an estate, and there's lots of servants in the estate. And he's going to come back, but while he's gone, they've got to take care of things. He says he puts them in charge. He puts them in charge. And notice, each with his work. And then he says he commands the doorkeeper. That's the third point. Specifically commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Now the doorkeeper controls access to the estate. You don't get in or out without the doorkeeper. It's a very important job. And to that person he says, you stay awake. Now the doorkeeper stands for leaders. This would be the apostles. This would be elders today or evangelists. And they need to be the examples of alertness and attentiveness to what may become at any moment. Then fourth, Jesus commands all his servants to be responsible for the estate, not just the doorkeeper. This applies to all Jesus followers in his absence. We are to be faithfully working and watching all the time right now. This is not just a great tribulation event. It's the here and the now, as the verse will end in verse 37. So I am saying that this passage is all about this period of time just before the day of the Lord. In fact, this last section agrees with chapter 13, verses 3 to 13, where we were talking about the present time. Notice he doesn't want doorkeepers who are passive or sleepy, or they don't know what's going on. They've got to be alert and showing alertness. Now the application, the application of the parable to the disciples, verse 35 and 36 of Therefore, stay awake." Have you noticed that this word, guard, stay awake, has been all through this starting right at the beginning of the Olivet Discourse? For you do not know when the master of the house will come in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep." Can you imagine when the Lord comes and the leaders are asleep? And there's many leaders that are asleep. They're not studying their Bibles. They're not growing. They're not learning. And what I say to you, now get this, I say to all, stay awake. He's not just talking to those saints at the end of the Great Tribulation period, a select group of people. This is to all, stay awake. So this passage is much broader than just the end of the Tribulation, which is what the fig tree is about. Now the application, therefore, he draws a conclusion with therefore, doorkeepers to stay awake, The reason is, you don't know, suddenly he will come. In fact, he might come, he can come at any time of the day. Come in the evening, that's 6 to 9 p.m. He comes at midnight, that's 9 to 12. When the rooster crows, 12 to 3 a.m., that's the third watch. Or he comes in the morning, 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. All of this is Roman division of time. And the point is, He can come suddenly at any time. He might come at midnight. Your job is to stay awake and be alert. The owner of the house has the right to come when he thinks it's the right time. Now, the term asleep, is a metaphor, it's not for literal sleep, but spiritual sleep. Distractions with non-essential duties, preoccupation with the wrong things, sleepwalking. Jesus wants his disciples spiritually alert, focused, faithfully working while he is absent on this journey. Now this brings us to the conclusion here. Verse 37, which I just read. Now, the conclusion restates the main point over and over, and what I say to you, I say to all, not just those in front of me, stay awake. So I think there's a wider application here than just the end of the Great Tribulation and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is to all future generations. Now, what is Jesus doing here? This is beautiful. He's preparing his disciples for his departure. You know, in the U.S. Army, we talk about, a very important word in the Army is preparedness. They must always be prepared. If tomorrow, Chinese government unleashes missiles, I can guarantee you, that people will not be running all around in different directions not knowing what to do. Everyone knows what to do, because they practice, practice, practice. Pilots practice. The Marines practice. They're constantly practicing. Why? Preparedness. Never get caught off guard in war. Never. You'll lose immediately. Those first days, those first hours. That's why it was so important on D-Day that The troops were all prepared for all the extinguishes that would come. They were prepared for every kind of situation. And they were successful, although they took great losses, they were successful. Walking right into machine gun fire, they were prepared. Our Lord is preparing his men for his departure. And it's very beautiful. And he wants them to know what's ahead. So go back to verse 23. Be on guard. There it is again. I have told you all things beforehand. So in other words, Jesus is saying there's no surprises, man. You're not going to be able to say, oops, we didn't know that was coming. Where is that? Why didn't he tell us this? No, he has told him all things. When we first started this chapter, we started with the whole section on false Christ, false teachers, all of these persecutions and problems that would be through this whole age. Jesus is saying, be prepared. This is what you will face. I like what William Hendrickson says about this. Listen very carefully. Lovingly, the master provides for his disciples. When fiery trials arrive, they must never be able to say, how strange and unexpected. Why did not the Lord prepare us for this? Why did he not warn us? Having been forewarned, the disciples will not be unduly disturbed when the predictions attain preliminary fulfillment. In fact, their faith in Jesus then will be strengthened. Was there ever a kinder shepherd? In other words, when all these things are fulfilled, their strength, their faith will be strengthened. Jesus told them. John 16, four, we have the same thing. Jesus said, I've told you these things. When the hour comes, you will remember all these things I've told you. All right, now, here's the big question. Are you ready? Why all of this on, be on guard, be alert, stay awake, don't sleep. Why all this on this? Here is why, and it's so, so important, it applies right now today. There is the natural human tendency of every individual to be spiritually lazy, to fall asleep on the job, to be spiritually complacent, to be neglectful, to be dull of mind and heart, and also to get distracted. We get distracted so easy. At heart, we are spiritually lazy. We can sit for two hours, four hours watching a sports team, watching a movie, think nothing of it. But how many of you sit two hours, four hours reading, studying, opening your Bible, thinking, writing. How many of you do that? Oh, I can't. My back hurts. Oh, I think my eyes are bleeding. Oh, oh, my neck just it hurts so much. No, I can't do 15, 20 minutes. That's all I can do. But we can do all these other things, right? Man is basically spiritually lazy. That's just that's just the truth. And Jesus is saying, wake up. Because you're going to face some very hard things, and you need to know that. So there's this strong emphasis on alertness, watchfulness, wakefulness. Do not be naive, inattentive, distracted. Sociologists call this the age of distractions. Never has there been, in human history, so many distractions as today. We have movies. They all advertise today. Our movie channel has 50 million movies. Oh, that channel only has 100 million movies. Come to our channel. TV, internet, we have games. These young people play hours and hours. 10, 11 hours of games. That's something I've witnessed. I've seen them do it. Apps, year-round sports events, endless, endless amusements. I remember one man telling me, oh, I spend hours a day puttering on the computer. That's not spiritual preparedness. To be spiritually prepared, you have to address this matter of distractions. I have a book right here with me, right in front of me. It's called How to Lead in a World of Distractions. And I just want to read one little section. He's got a lot of statistics here. Like on the job, it's very common for people to lose two hours a day of work just with distractions. But listen to this, your distractions are pulling you away from other things, important things, things and people you love and goals you want to achieve. Your distractions are keeping you from gaining momentum in life. They're keeping you from gaining traction in your life. Look closely at the word again, distraction. a lack of traction in life will eventually lead to disaster. He goes on to say, did I accomplish anything meaningful today? Distraction-filled days lead to tractionless lives. Let me read that again. Gotta listen carefully. Distraction-filled days lead to traction-less lives. You need traction to go forward. Distraction halts that. Spurgeon, Charles Haddon Spurgeon loved Whitefield. And he said of George Whitefield, most men are only half alive. Whitefield was fully alive. my brothers, my sisters, be fully alive for God. Be vigorous for God. Don't be asleep. Don't be distracted, preoccupied with foolishness and silly things in life. How do you stay awake? Now, there's many things I could say, but our time is very limited. I want to give you what I think is one of the key ways to stay awake, be alert, don't fall asleep, be attentive, ears open, eyes open, aware, not sleepwalking. I have found one of the very best ways to guard your soul, to be watchful, is to be regularly growing in your knowledge of God and scripture and your personal relationship with Christ. The fact is this, you are either growing in Christ or you are stagnating spiritually. You are drifting spiritually or drifting away spiritually. from Christ and into the powerful currents of this godless world. No one drifts into godliness. Now in a book that had a very big impact on me, The Mentoring Relationships You Need to Succeed, Paul Stanley and Bobby Clinton did a study of every leader, Christian leader, in the Bible and even after the Bible years, during the church history years. They came up with this conclusion that only one-fourth of all Christian leaders end their life well. And here's why. Listen to these words. They've been a great blessing in my life. We have observed that most people cease learning by the age 40. Well, who am I to argue with them? But it seems to me in our church, it's about 25 that cease learning. By that we mean they no longer actively pursue knowledge, understanding, experience that will enhance their capacity to grow and contribute to others. Now, focus. Most simply rest on what they already know, but those who finished their life well maintain a positive learning attitude all their lives. Do you hear that? They maintain a positive learning attitude all their lives. Now, if I had the time, I would take you through the New Testament and show you how many verses there are on growing. You'd be shocked. Be zealous about your spiritual growth as a disciple of Jesus. View yourself as a lifelong student in God's school of discipleship. For the Christian, school days are never-ending. Be engaged in continuous, never-ending learning and education. Make the study and meditation of Scripture and listening to audio sermons by godly preachers a priority and a passion in your life. Be fully alive for God, not half-alive, not sleepwalking. This is the best way to stay alert. Be growing. Be learning. Be listening. Be a sponge. One of my grandsons, whenever we're in the car, he's always asking these questions. I said to him one day, never stop asking questions. Keep learning, learning. Be a sponge. You know, when I was in school, I don't know whether I drove the teachers crazy or not, but every time after class, Poor teachers knew, here I was, right there. What did that mean? What'd this mean? What'd that mean? Where should I get a book on this? Some teachers love that because they like students that like to learn. Other teachers go, oh, here he comes again. I gotta leave real quickly. So anyway, that's the best way to be awake. You're learning, you're growing, you're listening to new things, you're going to conferences. You're always, well, I'm driving out here to the church and I drive back, I'm listening to Al Mohler on the briefing. Try to use every part of the day to be learning, growing, being awake, being working. That's what Jesus said. He said, I say to you all, stay awake. All right. Now, real quickly here, using prophetic truths to encourage comfort and exhort other people. All right. We're at the end of this chapter now. A lot of people get all confused by prophecy and then they get turned off to prophecy and they don't care about Bible prophecy. Well, it must be important. Jesus gave some of his largest discourses on prophecy, the Olivet Discourse. Here is one of them, two full chapters in Matthew. It's important to our Lord. Our Lord wants us to know these things. And that's why he says in verse 23, I have told you all things beforehand. I want you to know these things. No surprises ahead. Preparedness. So let me give you five uses of prophecy daily in your life. All right, number one, it's right in your notes. Prophetic truth should be used to encourage one another. Listen to what Paul says. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4 18. Now I'm going to read these words to you. And if you're alive, they should give you goosebumps. They're breathtaking promises. Now, all I want you to do is listen. This is 1 Thessalonians 4. Are you listening? For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command. That ought to give you goosebumps. With the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. I'll tell you cemeteries are going to be busy on that day. then we who are alive who are left after they've been caught up with the Lord will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air oh my heavens what an experience that must be whoo so here's the promise we will always be with the Lord That just raises the hair on my head, and I don't have that many, but it raises the hair on my head. Think about those words. First Corinthians 15, behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, lay in the ground dead, that's what he means, but we shall all be changed, key word, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, The trumpet will sound. I'm getting goosebumps again. And the dead will be raised imperishable. In other words, you went into the ground perishable, you come out imperishable with a new glorified body. We shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. And when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, death, where is your victory? Now, my friends, those words were written to the first Christians to comfort them. When you're facing death, I can't think of better words. When you're helping loved ones go through a death experience, use these words. The Bible says, we do not grieve as others who do not have any hope. First Thessalonians 4, 13. We have a glorious hope, magnificent hope, the bodily resurrection and the new earth. We are to be comforters of people. Now I want to tell you something we're not doing. But when you go to the hospital, bring your Bible. Read these kinds of verses. Open your Bible. Let people look at these things. Don't just say super sanctimonious words, pious words. I like to let people look at the Bible because it shows, that's the authority, not me. We should be comforters of the Lord's people. and we should be encouraging people with these great words. All right, second, prophetic truth should give us God's perspective on human suffering, affliction, persecution, and death. All right, 2 Corinthians 4, 17 to 5, 1. I am not exaggerating to say to you hundreds of times, maybe much more, in my life I have used the passage I'm going to give you with suffering people to give them what I call the divine perspective on life and suffering. Here it is, 2 Corinthians 4.17. Notice the words carefully and the contrast. I want you to notice two words, light momentary, light momentary affliction, all right? You get that? Light momentary. It's preparing for us, now, three words, eternal, weight of glory beyond all comparison. Do you see the contrast? Do you see the scale? Light, momentary affliction, that's what we face in this light, is preparing for us what? Eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. That's how you should view life. as we look not at the things which are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if this tent," this is this body, that is this earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house night made with hands, eternal in the heavens. You see all those contrasts? Light, momentary afflictions, eternal, weight of glory, not comparable, unseen, seen. That should really comfort people. I've used this in the hospital hundreds of times, or with couples going through very difficult times. Romans 8, 18, for I consider the sufferings of the present time not worthy, not worthy comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. Notice the glory of eternal weight, eternal in the heavens. These are all the great prophetic truths Second Timothy 4, 8, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. All right, three, prophetic truths should influence our ethical and spiritual life, humility, servanthood, love, forgiveness, meekness, prayerfulness. should affect our daily behavior and our choices in life, because we're children of the kingdom. Now, just listen to Peter. He's very clear about this. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away. By the way, he skips over a whole bunch of events. There's no problem there, because he wants to show the last event before the new heavens and new earth. Then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. And the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. End of story, or that earthly story. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? In light of the fact the whole thing's gonna be burned up, how should you now live? Therefore, beloved, since we are waiting for these things, a new heaven, a new earth, and him without spot and blemish at peace. How do you spend your money? How do you live your daily life? How do you make your choices? How about your finances, and your credit card, and people you hang with, and the music you listen to, and long-term planning? It should be done in light of, this is all going up in flames. But there is an eternal for us. In fact, listen to what Paul says to rich people. And by the way, we're all rich people. Don't think you're not. You've got beautiful homes and cars. Man, you're all so wealthy, I can't believe it. As for the rich in this present age, they are to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and to share. Listen now, thus storing up treasures for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so they may take hold of that which is truly life, heaven. All right, now four. We're almost done. Almost done. Prophetic truths should encourage all believers to eagerly waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Titus 2.13. There was a man named Kevin Dyer. He's an older man today. But back in the 70s, he had a great, great burden for Romania. Romania was under a monster dictator, Ceausescu, who they finally killed. And the people in Romania lived in absolute abject poverty. And the Christians, they only had like 60 watt light bulbs that could only be run maybe three hours at night. And they didn't have enough blankets and food. It was a horrible, horrible situation until the people finally just killed this monster. Well, Kevin Dyer had a real burden for the many, there were many Christians in Romania, hundreds and hundreds of churches throughout Romania. Well, he would come to America and raise money, came to our church, raise money, raise blankets, light bulbs, all these things he did. But he said something to us very interesting one day. He says, you know, I live in America, I live in Romania. In America, we don't talk much about the blessed hope, waiting for our blessed hope. I don't see many people waiting for the blessed hope, waiting for the next mortgage payment or their newest car. But in Romania, no matter where you go, who you're with, Maranatha, the Lord come. They're talking about the Lord's return constantly and they're waiting for the blessed hope. They don't have anything on this earth. There's nothing here to wait for on this earth. They're just trying to live. So often our materialism causes us to forget about the real realities of the eternal, what Paul calls truly life, truly life. All right, five, prophetic truths should be used in evangelism. People are naturally curious about the future, especially life after death. I have seen personally people saved as a result of prophetic preaching on the Bible or a special series of messages at a church on Bible prophecy. There have been books, very popular books on prophecy. I would have to say thousands of people have come to Christ as a result of telling the prophetic scheme that God has laid out and He wants us to know. He wants us to know. Paul even says that to the Thessalonians. Do not be ignorant of these things, he says. Don't be afraid of Bible prophecy because there's debate and disagreement. The big picture we agree on, the new heavens, the new earth, the great white throne, judgment, and God's people being with his people all the time. Proclaim it. Tell people about God's prophetic program. Don't be afraid. Give them a book on prophecy. I remember years ago, you don't hear this many more, but I remember as a teenager going to prophecy conferences. They were great, motivating conferences to your Christian life. And that God wants that. And that's why Jesus said, I have told you all things beforehand. I am preparing you. You'll have greater faith in me when they come. So let me end with what Paul ends with in first Corinthians 15. And he says this, Maranatha, our Lord come. That's our attitude, Lord come. Let me close with a statement here by one Bible commentator. All life becomes a preparation to meet the king.