Let's turn this evening to the gospel of Luke chapter 21. And we're going to begin reading at verse 5 and read through verse 16 and then jump down to verse 25 and read through verse 36. And the verse we're going to focus our attention on tonight is verse 34. Luke 21 beginning at verse 5, and as some spake of the temple, How it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he, Jesus, said, as for these things which ye behold, the days will come in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? And what sign shall there be when these things shall come to pass? And he said, take heed that ye be not deceived. For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ. And the time draws near. Go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified. For these things must first come to pass. But the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines and pestilences, and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my namesake, and it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what ye shall answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist, and ye shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren and kinfolks and friends, and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. Now let's jump down to verse 25. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth, distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring. Men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great with the power and great glory and when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh And he spake to them a parable, behold the fig tree and all the trees, when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the earth, watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all those things that shall come to pass and stand before the Son of Man. So far we read God's holy inspired word. Now verse 34, and take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. People of God, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again on the final day to judge the living and the dead. That day of his coming will be for some a great day of salvation and joy, For others, it will be a horrible day of destruction and damnation. For those who by faith look for His appearing and are ready for Him, it will be a great day of salvation. But for those who live in unbelief, who focus not on the Savior but on the things of this earth, an abomination, they will be caught unawares. and it will be for them the ultimate day of disaster. Whatever would hinder us from being ready for the day of the Lord, we must at all costs avoid. This is the instruction given in this passage to us. It was Tuesday of the Passion Week. The week of suffering, the last week of Jesus' life on earth. He was instructing his disciples for the last time concerning the end of the world and the signs of his coming. As he left the temple complex, and we learn a little bit more about this from Matthew's account in chapter 24, he said, look at all these stones and look at this magnificent building, it's all gonna be destroyed. And the disciples equated that with the end of the world. And Jesus didn't contradict them because the destruction of the temple in the year 70 A.D. points ahead to the final destruction when he comes again. And so he spoke of his return and the signs of his coming. And he concluded this with instruction warning them to watch and to pray so that they would be ready when He returns. That's the last three verses we read. And verse 34 introduces that concluding section. That's our text tonight. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts Be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares. To that we now call attention. Hearts overcharged with surfeiting. That's the language of our King James, isn't it? And there's a couple words here in that title even that are archaic. And we really don't use those words today. So I put a subtitle in, Hearts Burdened with Overindulging. That we understand better. Let's notice first of all what that means. Secondly, how this is dangerous. And finally, to what we are called. Surfeiting, drunkenness, and the cares of this world. As I said, surfeiting is an old English word, and it does mean overindulging. It describes someone who gives himself over to earthly, sensual pleasure. And the Bible is filled with examples of this. Let's go to the days of Noah before the flood. Matthew, in his account of this discourse, Chapter 24 records Jesus as describing that world in Noah's day as marrying and giving in marriage, eating and drinking. Nothing wrong with that. But when eating and drinking and feasting and marriage and giving in marriage characterizes a society, You have a society that overindulges, giving themselves over to earthly, physical, sensual pleasure. Now, let's forward to Babylon, to Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Remember the great feast he had with all of the princes of his kingdom? in Babylon, even using the cups out of the house of God for drinking and getting drunk. And then remember the finger, mene, mene, tekel, or farsan. That took place while the city had been under siege for some time on the part of the Medes and the Persians. And Belshazzar was so given over to indulging and partying that he was oblivious to imminent danger. Because that night, the Medes and the Persians finally succeeded in rerouting the river that went under the city walls. And they walked in on a dry riverbed and took the city. While they were eating and drinking, indulging, That was Belshazzar. From 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 3 and 4, we gain a peek into the world of the Gentile pagans in the days of the apostles. Listen to what Peter writes, for the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles. When we walked in lasciviousness, that's debauchery or lewdness, we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries. That's what characterized pagan society at that time. And he goes on, wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. That was even in the church. In the days of Isaiah, Judah was characterized by this overindulging. Isaiah writes in chapter 22, verses 12 and 13, and in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth. And behold, what did you do? joy and gladness, slaying oxen, killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, given over to earthly sensual pleasure, ignoring the call of God to sackcloth and ashes and mourning. The same surfeiting or overindulging characterizes our society today, doesn't it? We live in a pleasure-mad society. Never has there a society existed in history that has had the affluence and the wealth and the opportunity for pleasure than us. and our society has taken hold of it with both hands and run with it as far as they possibly can. Our society is characterized by sexual gratification, by extravagant living, by recreation, entertainment, sports. We're a pleasure-mad society that cannot be denied. And it's true, isn't it? These tendencies of the world very easily make inroads into the church, into our own homes, and to us as a church here. Well, that's surfeiting, overindulging. Next, Jesus speaks of drunkenness. Drunkenness is one of many sins that arise out of overindulging. There are others as well. Gluttony, gambling, sexual fornication, and a list could go on and on and on. Deception, dishonesty. The fact that Jesus makes mention here of drunkenness perhaps suggests that this is the first and primary sin that develops when there is overindulging and becomes the source of many other abuses and sins. Again, drunkenness has become a problem and has been a problem for the human race through history. Drunkenness prevailed in the pagan world. It was considered by many to be an integral part of the worship of their gods. With enough mind-bending alcohol or other drugs, they could be in tune with their gods. I remember in Jamaica, I was there for a couple weeks with Dan Pastore on behalf of the mission committee, and Reverend Brynson was there, and here are These men with great long scraggly hair, well, those are Rastafarians. That's their covenant with Jehovah God. And how do they commune with Jehovah God? They take ganji, which is nothing but marijuana, get themselves high. Drunkenness has been a problem also in the church. There are individual instances of drunkenness that we find in the Bible. Notable is Noah. After the flood, he planted a vineyard. And we read of the Sari incident where he was drunk and scandalized his family. And anybody who's at all aware of One who has a problem with drunkenness or with alcoholism, if you want to call it that way, knows that it's very, very unlikely this was an isolated case. Very unlikely. The Old Testament prophets, from them we learn that drunkenness became an increasing problem in Israel and Judah and was part of the spiritual decline of these nations. Interestingly, the New Testament scriptures also warn repeatedly against drunkenness of excess of wine. Why? Well, obviously there was a problem. And the same kind of problem exists today in our society. We live in a society where drunkenness or alcoholism is a problem of staggering proportions. In the mid-80s, we lived in Randolph, Wisconsin. Milwaukee was an hour and a half drive away. We got there to see the brewers play once in a while. And I remember going to the Miller Brewing Company with a friend and a couple other men, very fascinating. And then part of the tour was they brought us to a warehouse, a distribution center. Railroad tracks coming in, railroad cars waiting to be loaded. I learned every 24 hours, every day of the year, except Christmas, a half a million cases of beer went through that distribution center, carried it away on trucks, on trains, a half a million cases of beer. And that's only one of many and several, a number of distribution centers. We mustn't think that people who have fallen to the sin of drunkenness are those only on skid row. They've lost their job, they're dipped down by the river, they're homeless, some are that way, not all. I learned from someone who did falter that far that to keep your job, that was the primary thing if you are an alcoholic, and to keep your place. And if it becomes so bad, you'll lose that too, which this person did. There are many who have A problem with alcohol, they are caught in the sin of drunkenness, who are able to function at a reasonably high level outside the home. Not inside the home. Their marriages fail. Their family becomes dysfunctional. They become abusive. They don't take their place. their place in the church if they belong to the church. Well, there's no room anymore really for their relationship with God. That is put way, way on the back burner. They're drunkards. Someone who you respect, Loved ones who are responsible come to you and say, you're drinking too much. You are. You are. The sad thing about drunkenness is that alcohol clouds your judgment. You don't see things clearly. You're certainly convinced everything is in order. You've got everything under control. But when others who are responsible say, you're drinking too much, you are. You know that we as a denomination have a reputation in the Reformed community as being too much given to alcohol, you know that? I've come across that from a number of sources. Not from people who have an agenda, who are our enemies. Some of these are men and women and families who joined our churches. And we're disillusioned by the place alcohol has in our social life and left. Maybe for other reasons too, but that was important to them. You know, when it comes to dancing, we take a very, we're concerned about that. I remember when I was a young person, and we had a combined meeting, and Reverend Herman Veltman, the topic was dancing, may we dance? And he got up, and first of all, he astonished us. You wanna dance? Yeah, go ahead and dance. Dance, they dance in the Bible times. Go ahead and dance. But, you knew him, that finger always came up, but, Make sure you dance to the glory of God. And I'll guarantee you one thing, if you do the modern dance with its music and its gyrations, you will not be able to dance to the glory of God. That was a very good answer. We discourage dancing in our Christian school. We don't have dances. We're very, very leery of dancing because of the abuses that can arise. Maybe we should develop the same sort of healthy respect and concern about the use of alcohol and prescription drugs that we do about dancing. I think we ought to give consideration to that. I really do. Now, next, Jesus speaks of the cares of this life. are feeding, overindulging, drunkenness, and now the cares of this life. They are the worries, the concerns, the anxieties about the affairs of this life. They include concerns about finances, concerns about health, about your family, about work, about your friends, even about your own name and reputation, all legitimate concerns. Many of the cares that people have about this life are brought on, however, by their overindulging and their drunkenness and their sexual infidelity and other sins that arise in that connection. that has a way of happening. That's included here too. Now Jesus speaks of our hearts being overcharged by these things. The word overcharged is used again in the archaic sense of loading something down too heavily. The original means to weigh down, to depress something. And so one's heart is overcharged when it is burdened down with a heavy load. For example, someone close to you dies and leaves a gaping hole in your life. What a burden that becomes weighing down your heart as you go on. You have financial struggles, and you can't make ends meet, and you can't pay the bills, and you don't know which way to turn. Or you have a family member that goes way, a wayward, and brings great grief and tears to your eyes. That weighs heavily down upon your heart. And those things that weigh heavily upon your heart and press down, they sap all your energy. They sap all your energy for the rest of life. These are the things you carry. These are the focus of your life. Now Jesus speaks of our hearts being burdened, weighed down with overindulging and drunkenness and the cares of this life. Now you may question, well, just a minute. We're talking about pleasure, aren't we? Drunkenness, yes. Cares of this life, yes. But look at this overindulging, giving ourselves over to pleasure. Extravagance, vacations, sports, recreation. Isn't that exactly the kind of thing that lifts up our hearts? Takes the burdens away? And the answer is no, no. Two things. First of all, earthly pleasure, sensual pleasure, does never, never fully satisfies our souls. The world, not knowing Christ, not knowing the salvation of God, the joy of life with God, the joy of a relationship with God and Jesus Christ, Their solution is this, the more you have, the more of this life you can enjoy, the more extravagance you can get together, the greater your worth, the greater you're gonna enjoy yourself, that's the good life. That's the good life. There was a commercial even, you gotta drink the right beer, then you'll have the good life. It's all there, but it's a lie. It's a lie. Solomon, Solomon had it all, didn't he? He had wealth, he had power, he had name. And he gave himself over to many wives, to idolatry, to follow wherever his heart desired. And finally, when the Lord brought him to his senses, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes by inspiration, and he said, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Emptiness, that's what that means. It was an empty life. It didn't satisfy. Didn't get anything out of it. You know who Ted Turner is? I think I mentioned him from this pulpit in this example. I said his name before I thought of it, but I'll tell you again then. Ted Turner, the owner of the Atlanta Braves, a superstation out of Atlanta, TBS, I think. He's a multi-billionaire. I heard him in an interview. He said, you know something? Life's pretty much an empty bag. all his life, his life with all of its wealth, with all of its extravagance, with all of its recognition, with everything he wants, it's just an empty bag. But you see, If you're caught in the world of unbelief, then the solution is, well, I guess I don't have enough. I gotta have more. If I have one million, and that's not enough, and I have this extravagant house, and I'm not getting fulfilled here, I guess the solution is more, and more, and more, and that becomes a burden, always seeking for more, never attaining what you're after. Your heart becomes overburdened. That's the best case scenario. Then there is, there are the other two things that Jesus talks about. With overindulging comes sin of every kind. The high rollers of our world look at their lives. Look at the sins. immorality, drunkenness, cheating, every sin imaginable as they scratch for more, more of this world's pleasures and joys, and their life becomes more and more complicated, and they're consumed with the cares of this life. That's God's judgment. God will not allow those who are given over to earthly pleasure, forsaking the pleasures of Christ and the covenant ever to find true peace. All they do is burden down their hearts. So now we're the second point, how this is disastrous. Is this important? Yes it is. Jesus speaks of that day. Take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unaware. That day is the day of the Lord's return. There are two things that we want to emphasize about that day tonight. and they both come out of this chapter. The first is that there are many signs that are before us announcing the coming of that day. Jesus gave some that are recorded here in Luke. There's a more complete list in Matthew's account of the same discussion. But there's a preaching of the gospel. Jesus said in Matthew 24, 14, the gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all the nations. Then the end is going to come. In that context, Jesus spoke of wars and rumors of wars, social conflict, disasters in nature, earthquakes, volcanoes with great destruction. apostasy in the church, decline in morals. These are just some. These all remind us the Lord is working from His throne on high because these things take place at His command and He is making all things ready for His return. The church to be gathered the world to fill the cup of iniquity. And when those things come to pass, the Lord will be here. These are the signs of his coming. Secondly, when he comes, as I said in the introduction, this is going to be for some a great day of disaster and for others a great day of salvation. disaster. Notice verse 35, as a snare shall it that day come upon all them that dwell upon the face of the whole earth. It's going to catch them like a rabbit is caught in a snare. Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape. Some will escape the snare. Most won't. We're talking about final judgment, destruction, damnation. In fact, the signs that will take place immediately before Christ's return emphasize that very clearly. Listen, and there shall be signs in the sun. and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth distress of nations and perplexity the sea and the waves roaring men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken pestilence and natural catastrophes and wars Even as they progress throughout the history of the New Testament era, speak of coming and impending judgment, but before the very end, these things are going to come in great force so that men will call for the mountains to fall upon them, according to the book of Revelation, and it's too late. It will be a great day of disaster, and there's no escape. but there will be those that do escape. Verse 36, watch ye therefore and pray always that you may escape, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. The Son of Man is Jesus Christ, who comes from heaven in all his power and glory and honor. Some will stand before Him, they will remain in His presence, and they will remain in His presence throughout all eternity in the new creation. And in His presence, they will stand before the living God and enjoy His life with God, fellowship and communion with Him. But only those who are worthy, only those who are worthy will escape to do that. What makes someone worthy? No, don't look to your own works. No, no, no, that won't do it. That won't do it. It's the work of Christ. His perfect death on the cross, His righteousness, which He's obtained for His church, which is ours by faith, a free gift by faith alone. Only then are we worthy to escape, and we will escape. to stand before the Son of Man for all eternity. Now we read that those whose hearts are weighed down with overindulging drunkenness in the cares of this life will be taken by surprise when that day comes. It will come upon them unawares They'll be caught in the snare. They will not escape. That happened already in the days of Noah. Matthew's account, chapter 24. as the days of noah were so shall the coming of the son of man be in the days of noah there was the flood that destroyed humanity with the exception of noah and his family and representation of the animal world The Bible is very clear that that is a picture, a type, that looks ahead to the final day of the Lord's coming when the world will be destroyed, not with water, but with fire. Now listen to what Jesus says about the days of Noah before the flood. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. Here the flood comes, crashing down upon them, and they were taken by surprise. They didn't know it was coming. It came upon them unawares. Well, didn't God tell them? Didn't they get a warning? Of course they did. 120 years before this, God came to Noah and said, Noah, I'm gonna destroy this world with the flood. I want you to build this big box, this ark. I'm gonna save you and the righteous, the church, and representation of the animal world, and I want you for the next 120 years as you're building this ark to preach righteousness and to warn the people And they didn't listen. They didn't listen. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, involving themselves with all the sins that arise out of the evil nature of a fallen man. Their hearts were burdened with the cares of this life. They had no time to listen. They didn't want to hear it. They were so caught up. and their pleasure-seeking mad society and their life. They didn't listen. Not even when God miraculously started sending animals into the ark two by two. That doesn't just happen. And then God shut the door. And they were taken completely unawares. And they were all caught in the snare of the flood, and none of them escaped, except Noah. He was ready. "'So also shall the coming of the Son of Man be,' said Jesus." It's going to happen all over again. The end is coming. They have terrible judgment for the world of the ungodly. This time, there will be fire that destroys our present creation in its physical form, and from its ruins, God will make a new creation. The vast majority of the human race will perish at that time. Aren't they warned? Oh, they are. The gospel by the power of Christ is being sent throughout the whole world. The end is not going to come until all the nations have heard the gospel. And then there are the signs of His coming, signs of impending disaster, wars, rumors of wars, natural catastrophes. But the society, the world will not hear. Their hearts are burdened down with overindulging, and alcoholism, and sins of every kind, and cares of this life. They won't hear. They don't want to hear. All those whom God will save will hear. The word never returns void, does it? But the day will come all of a sudden upon them, and it will catch them unawares, and they will be destroyed. But the Lord will come upon them in all of their overindulging, their drunkenness, their worldliness, and it will all testify against them. And that's the end of our second point, not the sermon yet. One more point. And so we are called, take heed to yourselves, lest that happen to you and to me. The word translated to take heed has a twofold idea. Its basic idea is to turn your attention to something. It has your attention. You're focused on it. But it has, secondly, the added idea of doing that so that something bad and tragic doesn't happen to you. And that's what we're told here. Take heed to yourself. That comes, first of all, as an admonition to everyone here, individually, young and old alike, Pay attention. Realize the spirit of this world and of this age given over to earthly sensual pleasure. Instead of seeking the pleasures of salvation and of the covenant with God and the joy of living with God, their focus is here below on earthly things. Be aware of that. And be aware of where it's leading them into all sorts of abominable sins, drunkenness, fornication, sexual immorality, gambling, dishonesty. And pay attention to how that's causing their whole life to crumble under the judgment of God. Pay attention to that. Don't envy them. Don't be jealous, children and young people, that your mom and dad don't let you go in that direction and keep you back. Keep your eyes open. But then also realize how easily that can make inroads into your life. And so pay attention to your life, your attitudes, your time with the Lord, how you're using your time. Are these sins also creeping into your life, bringing with it all kinds of cares? Where's your focus? Examine yourself. Next week we're gonna have a preparatory service. I won't be here, I don't think. And then we're having Lord's Supper, but the preparatory service is to call us to self-examination. Self-examination isn't something you just do a week before the Lord's Supper celebration. It's something we need to do every day. Take heed to yourself, lest at any time in your life you drift into this direction. And then notice there's the plural here. Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts, your hearts be overcharged. For such a thing as taking heed to one another in the household of faith. We must each do that individually, but we must be our brother's keeper. Not nosy, not gossips, but we must be concerned about each other, our family members, the children we go to school with, the young people we go to school with, others in the church. Do you see this kind of thing making inroads into their lives? Then warn them, talk to them, encourage them, show them, Perhaps they don't even see it themselves. If someone comes and expresses a concern about this, don't just brush them aside. Listen. You older members who are more experienced and advanced in your faith, let yours to be the example. But let's do it. Let's care for each other. And that means that we cannot afford, can we, to be on the fringes of the church, outside the fellowship of the church. You can't survive and thrive spiritually on the fringes. You've got to be involved in the life of the church. where you can use your gifts to help others and others can reach out and help you also here. The key to doing this is right here, the scriptures. If you're gonna focus your attention, remember, take heed. If you're gonna be taking heed to your bank account, and to your house and how big it is, and to what kind of car you've got, and to your name and reputation, and what kind of vacation you can have this summer, it's almost done next summer, whatever. If that's what you're taking heed to, you're in trouble. It's right here, the word. Take heed to the Word. Let that be your focus as it instructs you about Christ and the way of salvation and the joys of the covenant and how we can live with God and enjoy Him forever. And it warns us and shows us the emptiness of this overindulging and everything it leads to. We gotta focus on the Word. as it's preached here, as we studied in our homes at family worship, in our own private devotions, in our Bible study groups. The more we focus on the Word, the more we're going to be able to do this, to avoid this. warning that Jesus gave us. And you say, well, is this really that urgent? The day of the Lord isn't here yet, you know. It might be a long ways away. In fact, we've been taught that He's not going to come tonight because according to the Scriptures there are certain things that have to come yet, the rise of the Antichrist, the great tribulation before the Lord returns. And that's true. But don't forget, number one, those things may develop rather quickly. In fact, all the signs are there for a worldwide government. Everything is in place as it never has been in the history of the world. But even apart from that, whether you or I live to see the day of the Lord, number one, to say, well, it's not so urgent. That's the devil speaking. That's the devil deceiving you. That's the devil who wants to get you back under his control. Those who carelessly give themselves over to the overindulging and the sins that come from it, and they get their hearts overburdened with all the cares of this life, They're brought further and further and further away from God, and the devil is reaching out to grab them. Don't forget that. Now, will God, the devil, ever snatch one of God's people away? No. No, he won't. But God's got a big stick. And if you and I are foolish enough to ignore these things, He'll take that stick out and He'll bring us to our senses as He did to Solomon. And that's a very foolish thing to do. That's a very foolish way to go. And then don't forget this. There's the day of your death. If you don't live to see the Lord's coming, there's the day of your death. And there will be a judgment there too. In fact, it will be essentially the same judgment as the final judgment when Christ returns. The only difference is the day of the Lord's judgment will be public so that God can show that He has always been righteous and just in all His dealings with men. But in the day of death, there is the same judgment. Take heed to yourselves that you don't allow yourself and your hearts to be burdened down with all these things so that that day comes upon you unawares. God uses that warning to sober us. May we hear it. Amen. Father in heaven,