Luke 17, verse 20. We've been talking about the coming of Christ. We were just singing about the coming of Christ. All of human history is going somewhere. As Christians, we understand a biblical worldview, and that is, we believe all human history is coming to one point, future, which is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The culmination of human history, and I would say human rebellion and even moral decay, is going to come to a climax prior to the coming of Christ. And when Christ comes, He's going to come with reward for those who have believed in Him, and He's going to come with judgment for those who haven't. And so it's going to be a divisive judgment we're going to see in our passage in a moment. It's going to be sudden. People are saying peace and security, and all of a sudden judgment. He's going to say, just as it was in the days of Noah, just as it was in the days of Lot, Noah, everybody was going about their business, buying and selling, eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. And then all of a sudden, judgment. In the days of Lot, also, people were just going about their business, buying, selling, eating, drinking. Nobody's concerned about anything. And then all of a sudden, all that, you know, the domino starts falling of all those end time events which bring judgments. And so, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man we're going to see. All of human history is moving towards that event. It's not moving towards, you know, utopia that's been manufactured by humankind. That's not what's happening. It's moving towards the coming of Christ. And so we've been dealing with the coming of Christ. The coming of Christ is the hope of the believer. As Paul said, if in this life only we have hope, then we are of all men most be pitied. What's the point? Just get whatever you can into this life. Have as much fun as you can have. Accumulate as much stuff as you can. What's the point? And there's a nihilism that's the result of such a godless point of view, that is, ultimately, at the end of the day, if we're going to be honest, nothing has meaning, if there is no afterlife, and so on. And there's people in denial, trying to find meaning and purpose in this life, outside of God, but all of that is an effort and futility. The whole history of Western thought and philosophy shows you that. And so there are some who devise some sense of morality and some sense of purpose apart from God. Ultimately, they have to borrow from a biblical worldview in order to justify morality and justice and purpose and meaning. The logical outworking of an atheistic worldview is meaninglessness. And so many of the torments that we see in our culture today are people grappling with that meaninglessness. And so why is addiction on the rise? Why is violence on the rise? Why is there such sexual perversity? Why is there such a focus on just the physical and what I can experience and feel? Because it's mankind dealing with a lack of spirituality, a lack of relationship with God, dealing with their own depravity in any way they can. And so much of what we observe in our society today is our people dealing with or grasping with the human condition apart from God. I think that's undeniable, and we can have an argument about that if you want, but I think that the one thing the biblical worldview has going forward that no other worldview has is that it perfectly aligns with reality. And that is a primary test of whether or not a worldview is accurate or not. Does it jive with reality? And the biblical worldview does. What it says about human nature is being played out in front of us. What it says about life apart from God is being played out in front of us. It's clear as day. And so, it gives us confidence, doesn't it? And in a kind of a sad way, we have confidence in the accuracy of a biblical worldview because of the depravity of the culture, because it's exactly what the Word predicts. Well, the Word predicts something else, too, and that is this human rebellion, human decay, moral corruption, spiritual rejection is all going to come to a head prior to the coming of Christ, and that's what we're going to see here in our passage. So, look at it in Luke 17, verse 20. Jesus is being asked by the Pharisees when He's going to establish His kingdom on earth. When will the kingdom of God come? And He answered them, The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. Nor will they say, look, here it is, or there, for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. And we've dealt with this already, and what we said was what that does not mean is that there's no future kingdom, because we see elsewhere where He indicates that He is coming again. Even after His death and resurrection, when He meets with His disciples for 40 days prior to His ascension, He's still talking about the kingdom. They're still asking Him when it's going to be established, and His answer is, it's not for you to know the times or the seasons. He doesn't say it's not going to happen. He says it's not for you to know the times or the seasons. What his point here is, it's already arrived in a certain sense. You've seen the kingdom message. You've heard the kingdom message. You've seen me healing people. You've seen me casting out demons. You've seen me control the winds and the waves. And so I've exercised authority over creation, and over disease, and over sin, and so on. You've seen the kingdom come. And so he says to them, if I am by the finger of God, casting out demons, and the kingdom of God has come to you." So they had experienced the kingdom in a certain sense, right then and there. That's his point. He says, the days, in verse 21, or verse 22, he says, the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you'll not see it. He's talking to His disciples here. And He's saying, you're going to so long for My coming and My kingdom, at some point in the future. And people are going to take advantage of that. They're going to say, oh, he's already here. Look over there. Look over here. He says, don't follow them. And then he corrects their thinking. I'm not coming that way. It's not going to be a matter of rumors and speculation and people setting dates and all this kind of... No. As the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in His day. He's saying, the day is coming when there will be a global spectacle. Every eye will be trained to the heavens, and like lightning lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the coming of the Son of Man be." There'll be no escaping it. There'll be no explaining it away. There'll be no speculation. It'll be clear. It is the Son of Man. Okay? It's Christ. But then He says this in verse 25. But first. But first. It's not happening right now. Not only is there going to be a global spectacle, not only is it going to be a glorious unveiling where Christ is seen in all of His glory, there's also going to be a great delay. It says, but first, He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. That's the crucifixion of Christ. He's foretelling His own death. But then there's more, verse 26, and this kind of shows us that this delay is going to be quite long. Because in verse 26 He says, just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. And so what he's saying to us is that, although no man knows the day or the time, and we're going to see that in a second. Watch, I'll just read it to you right now. Matthew 24, 36. But concerning the day and hour, no one knows. No one knows when Christ is coming back. So if you've been listening to some TV preacher or somebody else who's setting dates, you're listening to a false teacher. Nobody knows a day or time. Any such prediction is an act of heresy and false teaching. And Acts 1-7 says, "...it is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority." Christ is coming. We don't know the day or the time. Only the Father knows. Okay? And so, He does, however, say in verse 26, "...just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man." He is giving us something. He's saying you cannot predict the day, but there are some evidences. There are going to be certain societal conditions on earth at that time that signal that His coming is near. We're going to see what those are in just a moment. He says it's going to be similar to what it was in the days of Noah. So if you know what it was like in the days of Noah, you know what it's going to be like prior to Christ's return. And he gives some details. They were eating, drinking, marrying, being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. So life's going to be going on as normal for some people, then all of a sudden, destruction. But there's more. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. But on that day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. And so going about life as normal, then all of a sudden, destruction. Then he says, so will it be. on the day when the Son of Man is revealed." So He's giving us clues. There's going to be certain societal conditions that are going to be evident prior to the coming of Christ. He goes on to talk about the severity of the judgment when the Son of Man is revealed. Verse 30, "...so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away. And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back." I mean, just like this judgment is severe. Don't worry about your stuff. Just, you know, take cover. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night, there'll be two in one bed. One will be taken the other left. There'll be two women grinding together. One will be taken the other left. And they said to him, where, Lord? He said to them, where the corpse is, there the vulture will gather. I didn't get anywhere near finishing this in the last hour, but I'm really going to try to do it in this service. So pay attention if you can. The day is coming. There's going to be a great delay before the coming of Christ. We don't know when the hour is, but there's certain things that signal that the time is near. This delay is not to be read. as an assumption that he's not going to fulfill his promise. Peter deals with that in 2 Peter 3. He says plainly, and you can read it on your own time, it's there on the screen, but you can mark it down. But he's dealing with those scoffers who say, it's been so long, he's not coming back. And what Peter cites is, what, the flood. He says, well, they're forgetting one thing. God has judged in the past, and it was a global judgment, and it came at a time when nobody expected it. Besides that, Peter goes on to say, one day is as 1,000 years with God, and 1,000 years is as one day. In other words, your perspective is so temporal. We have a lifespan of 78 or 80 years, and so we think anything beyond that is taking forever. He's saying with God, who exists out of time, 1,000 years is nothing. So what we call delay, God doesn't call delay. In fact, what we call delay, God calls mercy. Because He says that He's giving opportunity. Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He gives opportunity for more and more and more to submit to Christ before He comes. Because you want to be on the right side of that coming. Either those who receive commendation and glory, or those who receive judgment. And so we do know that Christ is returning. We don't know the day or hour. We do know that some will attempt to say He's here, and they will be liars. We know that His coming will be marked by a global event, which every eye will see. There's no need for rumor or speculation. We also know that it's going to be greatly delayed, which it has been. We know that although we cannot know the day or time, there are certain earthly conditions which will, listen, there are certain earthly conditions that will increase in frequency and intensity prior to His coming. And that's what we're going to look at. So what are these societal conditions that are going to exist on earth prior to the coming of Christ that are going to increase in intensity and frequency? And as I'm speaking, I want you to think about our own society and whether or not you can detect these things now. I'm not suggesting the coming of Christ is around the corner. But what I am going to suggest to you is that these elements have been here for thousands of years. They're marks of a Godless society, but they are going to increase in intensity and frequency prior to the coming of Christ. And so what do we look for? What's the condition of the world going to be before Christ's coming? It's going to be marked first and foremost by spiritual rejection. Spiritual rejection. He says, as in the days of Noah. What happened in the days of Noah? Genesis 6. Verse 5, "...the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Completely depraved. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart. Verse 11, "...now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." He's saying that in the days of Noah, prior to the judgment of the flood, sin had reached an apex. It had permeated civilization in total. Complete moral decay, which always flows out of spiritual rejection of God. You cannot reject God without it naturally leading to moral decay. So will it be in the last times prior to Christ's return. Now, you can read about that in 2 Thessalonians 2, and I'm not going to read it for the sake of time. But in 2 Thessalonians 2, you get more detail about that, verse 1-12, talking about that ramping up of moral decay and spiritual rejection. Just like in the days of Noah, rejection of God and righteousness will reach a crescendo on earth. And that day, there's going to be a global culture. There's going to be a global culture which features a global value system. which isn't an issue now. Now, I'm not a date setter, and I don't fall prey to headline hysteria. I can say that the return of Christ is imminent, but I understand that Christians 50 years ago were saying the same thing, and Christians 100 years ago were saying the same thing, and Christians 500 years ago were saying the same thing, and that just ought to be the posture of every believer. I understand that. That being said, we do understand that this human history is linear, and that things are changing from one generation to the next, and we are approaching closer to the time of Christ's coming, so it does make sense that we can see some things falling into place. But I don't know. We might have another hundred years, another thousand years, I don't know. But I can tell you one thing. God is talking about a global culture which is morally corrupt and which has rejected God in total. Is it possible that we could have a global culture? Is it possible that people in North America and people in Asia and people on the other continents and people in the cities and people in the villages could all share one common global culture? Is there some way that we can connect everybody together so that we can share a value system? Obviously. Obviously. With the advent of the Internet, with the advent of technology, what happens? We, together, can produce a global culture with a global value system, so that there can be agreement amongst the entire globe as to what is right and what is wrong, and so on. What's going to happen is this global culture that develops is going to be anti-God. There's going to be spiritual rejection. Mankind will refuse to love the truth, so that every intention of the thoughts of his heart will be only evil continually. And you say, well, that's a little far-fetched. Well, no. Remember the Tower of Babel? What happened? What happened at the Tower of Babel? Mankind all came together. They decided to worship. false gods together, and God separated them. Why did He do it? Because He understood that when mankind in its fallen condition comes together, they pool their depravity, and there are no bounds then to their immorality. The same thing has happened as we've seen the world connected in an online culture. What are the most visited websites online? Do you know? You probably don't know, because when they show you lists of the top visited websites, you know what they always exclude from those lists? Pornography. Why do they always exclude pornography from the most visited website? Because there's no contest! The most visited websites are always pornographic websites, and there's no contest, and so they just exclude those right out the gate in order to get a picture of the most visited websites. But mankind pools When mankind comes together and unites, they pool their depravity, and God destroyed it once at the Tower of Babel, and He'll do it again after this new Babel, which we are creating through our global culture. Psalm 10.3 says, "...for the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. And the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God." That's the consuming thought process of an unbelieving world. There is no God. And there's consequences to that. And so there's going to be spiritual rejection. With the spiritual rejection also comes what I'm calling material preoccupation. Preoccupation with material things. Materialism is the value system of the unbelieving world. Why? Because if we reject the spiritual, what do we have left? Just the material. If we reject the spiritual, we just have the physical. If we're not concerned about the heavenly, we're only concerned about the earthly. If we're not concerned about the eternal, we're only concerned about the temporal. And so that's where we find our meaning and our purpose and our values and so on. So we're preoccupied with the material. And we see that in our text, because what were they doing in Noah's day? Buying and selling, eating, drinking, marrying, giving and marrying, same with the Lot's day. Their mind was only on the regular routine of this earthly life, and that's it. Materialism is the religion of atheism. The greatest tragedy... I expect that from an unbeliever, right? I mean, what else do they have? Let's eat and drink, or tomorrow we die. That's all we've got. A tragedy, however, is when believers who claim to have spiritual priorities and claim that they're waiting for Christ to come, when they're obsessed with just material things. Those who claim to believe in God and the coming of Christ consume the vain and temporary things of this life, and so everything becomes about earthly pursuits and material gain, and so on. 1 John 2.15 says, "...do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride in possessions, is not from the Father, but is from the world." In what? The world's passing away. The world's passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. I mean, you're just setting up camp on a sinking ship. So as believers, we're to live out our profession, and that is spiritual priority, eternal priority, eternal perspective. Well, that means that we're not obsessed with or consumed by the material world. Now, look in Romans 1. Romans 1. Just keep your finger there for a second in Romans 1. The world in Noah's day and the world in Lot's day was marked by spiritual rejection, and it was marked by material preoccupation. Next of all, and logically, and we see this play out any time a culture rejects God, we see moral corruption. We see moral corruption. What did we say in Genesis 6 in Noah's day? What did God say? God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on earth. Moral corruption. This is a natural byproduct, again, of atheism. Now, atheists and humanists would contest this, and I already touched on this a little bit. There is no logical or philosophical foundation for morality apart from God. People argue that, and they'll write tomes trying to justify their morality, but it's an argument in futility. An atheistic understanding of morality is subjective at best. And so we see a pattern. Spiritual rejection, material preoccupation, moral corruption. Now look in Romans 1. Romans 1, the Apostle Paul's talking about human nature in general, kind of the human condition. This is what happens when people reject God. What does he start with? Well, look in verse 21. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. What's that? Spiritual rejection. They didn't honor God the way that they should have honored God. He is their Creator. He is to be honored. Anything short of honoring Him as Creator of God is sin. Spiritual rejection. Well, what do we say comes next? You reject God, naturally your focus has to become upon the material, and only the material. So verse 24, Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator. Eyes off the Creator, eyes on the creature. Eyes on the material, the created realm. Because that's all you've got. Spiritual rejection, material preoccupation. What do we expect next to come? Moral corruption. Look at verse 26. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women, and were consumed with passion one for another." Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves a due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. And there's a whole list there. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, and evil, and deceit, and strife, and heartlessness, and ruthlessness, and murder, and so on. The list goes on. What's that? moral corruption, spiritual rejection, material preoccupation, moral corruption. That's the pattern. You say, well, that all exists now. Yeah, but it's going to increase in intensity and frequency prior to the coming of Christ. Now, turning your Bibles to Genesis 18, Genesis 18. Sadly, this is where I had to end the message in the early service. We're going to get beyond that now. And I really didn't like having to end the early service in this passage, and you'll see why. Genesis 18. We said that when Christ comes, the world is going to be like it was in the days of Noah. We also said, or Christ said, in Luke 17, that before He comes, the world is going to be like it was in the days of Lot. Well, we're going to see what it was like in the days of Lot. Lot lived in a city called Sodom. Sodom, the moral corruption in Sodom was so grave and so great that God sent messengers to talk to Abraham on their way to go destroy Sodom. Just like the global culture in the days of Noah had corrupted itself on earth, which then brought about God's judgment, so kind of the local corruption in the city of Sodom had so corrupted itself that God brought judgment upon the city. And so he sends some men. These are angels. Angels do appear in the form of men sometimes scripturally. And so they meet with Abraham and they tell Abraham their plans. We've heard the cry of Sodom. And so they say they're going to destroy the city. And Abraham knows that his nephew Lot is in the city. So he's saying, Lord, don't destroy the city. I have relatives in the city. And so he starts praying to the father. And he says to God, if there are 50 righteous, would you destroy the city if there's 50 righteous? Surely you wouldn't kill the righteous with the unrighteous. And God responds and says, no, I will not destroy the city if there's 50 righteous. And this continues. And then he says, well, what if there's 40? Or what if there's 30 there? And so on. And then Abraham goes all the way down to 10. If there's 10 righteous, will you spare the city? And God says, yes, if there's 10 righteous, I'll spare the city. Well, there weren't 10 righteous, which means the city wasn't going to be spared. And so look in Genesis 19 verse 1. I summarized Genesis 19 verse 1. The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed himself with his face to the earth, and said, My lords, please turn aside to your servants and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way. They said, No, we'll spend the night in the town square. That was a bad decision, and Lot knows it. Lot's trying to be hospitable. He understands the corruption of the city. He's not from Sodom. He knows how corrupt the city is, and frankly, he knows he shouldn't be there. They say, well, we'll spend the night in the town square, and he pressed them strongly. I mean, he's trying to be nice about this thing, but basically he's saying, that's not a good idea, that's not safe. And so he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate, being very hospitable to these men. But look what it says. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man surrounded the house, and they called to Lot, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them. The word know is euphemism for sexual relations in Scripture. that we may know them. Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, so you get it, he doesn't want the people inside to hear this, and so he just kind of comes out, shuts the door so they can't hear the conversation, and he talks to the men from the city who have surrounded his house. He says, I beg you, brothers, verse 7, do not act so wickedly. He's embarrassed by the moral corruption of the town that he's decided to settle in. Now look what he says next. It shows you that Lot hasn't been unaffected by the wickedness of this city. Behold, I have two daughters, who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of Myru." So corrupt had this city become, and so corrupt had Lot become in his thinking, that he thought offering his virgin daughters to these men who had surrounded the city was a moral improvement over what they wanted to do to those men that were in the home. And that's the nature of sin, by the way. You get so far down that road of sin that you begin thinking and doing things that you couldn't imagine you would have done prior. Well, this is Lot. The Bible in the New Testament says that his righteous soul was vexed daily as he corrupted himself in the city of Sodom. And so he offers his daughters. Look what happens. These men will not be denied their desires. Verse 9, but they said, stand back. And they said, this fellow came to sojourn and he has become the judge? In other words, you're not even from here and now you're judging us for our morality, from our value system and our own city? It says, now we will deal worse with you than with them. Then they pressed hard against the man Lot and drew near to break the door down. But the men, these are the angels, reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great. And you say, well, it showed them they're going to turn around and go home. No, they're struck blind. And then it says, they wore themselves out groping for the door. Even being struck blind, they wouldn't be denied their sexual appetites. Then the men said to Lot, Have you anyone else here, son-in-laws, daughters, anyone? Say, it's time to get out of here. We need to go. If you've got any relatives, go get them. We need to leave. Why? Because judgment's coming. And so Lot went out and said to his sons-in-laws, who were to marry his daughters up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city. But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. What is this? They didn't believe him. What's happening here? It's important, because whatever is happening here is going to be happening prior to the coming of Christ, because Christ said, as it was in the days of Lot, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. Widespread sexual perversion, which rises to a level of violence and hatred, rises to a level of violence and hatred towards those who would seek to deny or seek to suggest sexual restraint. So reprobate was the city that again, Lot thought it was a moral improvement to offer his daughters. So will be the condition of civilization at large immediately prior to Christ's return. Are we already seeing the stage set? I think so. The dominant theme of social discussion right now revolves around sexual revolution. I mean, that's the dominant discussion. Some of the greatest expressions of hate and intolerance are being expressed towards those who suggest traditional expressions of sexuality or sexuality in accord to that for which we are designed. So hateful is culture towards those who would advocate a biblical sexuality that they're even inventing terms as pejoratives against those who would suggest a biblical sexuality. You transphobe! What in the world does that mean? I'm going to make up my own terms. That's how determined I am to make sure I ostracize you or stigmatize you so that you feel as if you're the one with the condition. That you're the abnormal one. You're the one that's to be stigmatized. And so we make up terms. So we're gonna turn that around and we're gonna look at the culture and say, what's wrong with you? All you Christophobes. You can't handle Christ? Why are you living this way? Why do you have such a fear of Christ? Flip it around. Prior to Christ's return, the global culture will be obsessed with an unbridled sexuality. Mankind, in his rejection of the spiritual, will move more and more closely towards the animalistic, and then move beyond the animalistic to doing that which is even contrary to nature. At least animals operate in accord with natural design. This sexual lust will cause the global population to hate and to reject and to threaten and oppress those who preach righteousness, just like Noah and just like Lot. The days are coming. You say they're already here. Yeah, there's gonna be increase in frequency and severity. 2 Timothy 3.1 says, but understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self Lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power, avoid such people." I can tell you this about the world, at least they're committed to their theology. I mean, they are committed to their lifestyle. Their belief system has real impact on how they live. I wish I could say the same thing about believers. The question is, does what we say we believe about God and the coming of Christ, does it have as much an effect on our affections and our attitudes and our actions as it does upon the world as they play out their godless theology? And so, what marked the days of Noah and Lot? Spiritual rejection, material preoccupation, moral corruption. And then lastly, what is going to mark, or what did mark those days? Divine destruction. Noah, global flood. Lot, localized destruction of a city that had corrupted itself. Sudden destruction. While they're eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. In other words, they're just going on with life as normal. and then sudden destruction. And what we see biblically, when it says sudden destruction, that whole idea is the whole chain of events that bring about the return of Christ begins suddenly. Just as it was in the days of Noah, in the days of Lot, people live out their rejection of God, they're obsessed with the earthly and temporary, they're corrupted morally, they continue denying God, that He exists, they scoff at the idea of coming judgment, but also, like in the days of Noah, in the days of Lot, their indifference does not make one change to God's timeline, judgment comes. 2 Peter 3.7 says, the heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. This is going to be sudden. 1 Thessalonians 5.3 says, while people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, they will not escape. And so we say sudden, But sudden labor pains mean what? Well, it means that you still have that whole birthing process to take place. Sudden means the events begin, which are going to usher in the coming of Christ. And so in Lot's day and Noah's day, they're eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, building. They weren't expecting judgment, but it came. Matthew 24, 44 says, therefore, you also must be ready for the Son of Man for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. And so it's coming suddenly. It's going to be a sudden destruction. Next of all, it's going to be a divisive destruction. Look at verse 31. On that day, let the one who is in the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away. And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Verse 33, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life will keep it. Verse 34, I tell you, in that night there'll be two in one bed. And here we talk about division. When Christ comes back and judges, it'll be a divisive judgment. There'll be two in one bed, one will be taken, the other left. There'll be two women grinding together, one will be taken, the other left. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken, the other left. What's happening here? It's all going to be sorted out. Those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and who are eagerly anticipating His coming, versus those who have rejected God and gone down that path of spiritual rejection, material preoccupation, moral corruption. One taken, the other left. Well, what does that mean? Well, I think what it means, like Noah and his family were taken up in the ark, others were left. Lot was taken out of the city with the angels, and the rest were left. Those who are taken out are taken out to salvation. Those who are left are left to judgment. Matthew 24, 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. That's not the rapture. That's them being gathered up to be with Christ at Christ's second coming. Some are taken, others are left for judgment. When Christ comes, He comes with an undiluted wrath. He comes in judgment. But before He comes with judgment, He takes up His own. And look at verse 37. And they said to Him, Where, Lord? And He said to them, Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. They're not asking timing, they're asking location. Where is this all going to happen? Jesus doesn't quite answer the question head-on. What He's doing here is He is emphasizing the totality of the destruction, and really the gruesomeness of the judgment. They're saying, where's it all going to take place? He doesn't answer that question. What He's saying is, you want to know where it's going to be? Look for the vultures. Because where this happens, there's going to be an accumulation of corpses. And where the corpses are, there are the vultures going to be. Revelation 19 17 describing Christ in his glory in the coming judgment Says then I saw an angel standing in the Sun and with a loud voice He called to all the birds that fly directly overhead. What did you say come? gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of the Kings and the flesh of the captains the flesh of mighty men the flesh of horses and the Riders and the flesh of all men both free and slave both small and great what is that this judgment and And these are the corpses of those who have received the wrath of Christ. I'm sorry I couldn't give you a happy message this morning. I much rather have preached upon the glory of Christ and the salvation that is granted to his own at his coming. But we're going to deal with the text as it presents itself. And so what we find here is that judgment comes suddenly, it comes with division. And what we find ultimately is a grand reversal, a grand reversal. Those who rejected God are now rejected by God. Those who were the castoffs of earth are now those who are seen in their glory to rule and reign with their savior. There's a grand reversal. And so this judgment is sudden, it's divisive, it's complete. And there's going to be a grand reversal here. It's a global spectacle. It's a glorious unveiling, and it's greatly delayed, and there's a grand reversal. 2 Thessalonians 1.7 says, When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, so that's one group of people, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, And I love this verse, and we're almost done here, but verse 8. Look at it. What do you notice peculiar about that verse? Inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Is responding to the gospel a matter of obedience? Yes. So I thought it was just a matter of faith. Well, it is. What are you commanded to do? Believe. Responding to the gospel is a matter of obedience. If you don't respond to the gospel and receive Christ as Savior and Lord, I mean, there's some out there that present Jesus as almost he's just like a puppy left out in the rain on the other side of the door, just gently knocking, hoping somebody opens the door. Open the door of your heart and let Jesus in. What is this saying? This is a matter of obedience. You submit to Christ. Why? Because He's coming again as judge. You submit to Him. He's the only Savior from your sin, but He's also Lord, and He's coming back in His glory. The gospel is something to be obeyed. If you don't respond to the gospel, you're disobedient. Which means, which side of this equation are you going to be on at the coming of Christ? When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. But then there's another group of people. Verse 10, When He comes on that day to be glorified in His saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you is believed. It's a divisive judgment. There's two groups of people, and only two. Those who have not obeyed the gospel, and those who have obeyed the gospel. And so, offered to you this morning. If you have not yet responded to Christ, you need to respond to Christ. It's a matter of obedience to God. You say, well, I believe in God. Which God? If it's the God of Scripture, the God of Scripture has given a testimony regarding His Son, saying that all must honor the Son as they honor Me. If you believe in the God of Scripture, as you say you do, then you're going to respond to His Son. What does that look like? It looks like obeying the gospel. And so you repent of your sin. Lord, forgive me for living for myself. Forgive me for living as if I'm lord of my own life. Forgive me for sin where I violated your holiness. Forgive me for that. I believe that Jesus came, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, bore my sin upon the cross. I believe that to be true. Through the death of Christ, He's turned away your wrath. So the only means of salvation is to put faith in Christ. I believe this to be so. And I submit to His lordship. I want to live for you. I want to submit to the authority and the lordship of Christ. That's obedience to the gospel. You want to be on the right side of the coming of Christ. He came as the meek Messiah. He's coming again as the conquering King. And so although the truth of God is suppressed now, it will all be revealed without the possibility of denial then. Although this world is indulging themselves in materialism, getting all they can into this life now, they will ultimately learn the deadly consequences of their perverted priorities then. Although God's holy character is attacked through moral corruption now, Christ will come to judge and establish His righteousness then. Although believers may be scoffed at and rejected now, they will be gathered together, and their glory will be revealed with Christ then. And although Christ is blaspheming now, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess then. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, those of us this morning who are believers, we confess that we believe not because we're smarter than anybody else, not because we're more moral than anybody else, Not because we think ourselves better than anybody else. On the contrary, we confess we are completely unworthy. We do not deserve salvation. We do not deserve Christ. We only deserve your wrath by virtue of our own sinful nature. We confess that to be true. We know we believe only because by your grace you enabled us to respond to the gospel. You enabled us to respond in obedience. And so, Lord, you receive all the glory. We recognize that you saved us while we are yet sinners. And so, Lord, we don't in any way stand in judgment of those who are not yet believers. We don't think ourselves better. We confess our own wretchedness. And we pray the same would be true of those who have not yet received Christ, that they'd recognize they can't save themselves. They recognize that it's not a matter of good works, it's not a matter of our good outweighing our bad, but we all need salvation. We need the righteousness of Christ who died for us on the cross. And so, Lord, I pray that some would make that profession, receiving Christ as Savior and Lord, so that they could not look to the coming of Christ with fear, but they could look to the coming of Christ with eager anticipation. knowing that they're on the right side of His coming. Lord, we thank You for this, and we pray that You would hasten the day. We pray that the Lord would come quickly. We understand the delay, and the delay is part of Your mercy, giving more time for some to respond. I pray that You would impress upon the hearts of those who are not yet believers that the time is short. We don't get to pick the timeline, as it was in the days of Noah and the days of Lot. They're going about life as normal, thinking they had more days when destruction came suddenly. We don't get to choose the timeline. So I pray that you'd impress the urgency upon the hearts of those who have not yet received Christ. I pray that they receive them now. And then Lord, for us as believers, that you'd help us to look forward to the coming of Christ and to just be motivated to do as much as we can for his glory with all that you've entrusted to us as we await his return. Help us also to sense the urgency and the imminency of his return and help us to labor for his glory until that time. Lord, we thank you for all of this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.