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Yeah, thank you, Cassie, that was wonderful. And thank you, Caroline, as well. And Heather, and Molly, and Mandy, and Brianna, thank you for your musical gifting. There's no holiday quite like Christmas.
Many holidays are celebrated throughout the year, but none in their popularity and magnitude matches Christmas. Everywhere you go on planet Earth, people celebrate Christmas. This is so because of Christianity's influence on every corner of the planet.
Unlike many holidays, Christmas is a global holiday, and there's no holiday that is quite like it. When we talk about Christmas, we're not talking about one day. We're talking about a season. Really, for an entire month, we call it the Christmas season.
All the decorations go up, the Christmas music plays, people watch their favorite Christmas movies, and we eat the same kinds of delicious foods every time this season rolls around. Even the most secular people have a faint understanding of what this season is all about.
Even though most of the focus is on Santa Claus and purchasing gifts, people are still aware that this is a Christian holiday, and it's appropriate that it's Christmas Day and it's Sunday. But this is how Christians should explain this significant day.
The Christmas season and Christmas Day is the season every year to recognize that God came to this Earth and became a man, and that man is Jesus Christ. When most people think about Christmas, they think it is a time to look back.
And in one sense, this is true. We do look back at the time God in the flesh was born. But if we only look back, we are missing how the whole biblical story connects. What people often miss is how Christmas relates to the end of the story.
What is interesting to understand is that when the Jews read the Old Testament, they did not see that there would be two comings of the Messiah. I've explained this before. The Jews believed the Messiah would come, drive out his enemies, and then the people would reign with him.
They had no concept that there would be two comings of the Messiah. But God planned all along that there would be two comings. When the Messiah came the first time, he came on a mission to save sinners.
When the Jews conceived what the Messiah would be, they were perplexed by passages from the Old Testament like Isaiah 53 that describes the suffering servant. That passage describes that the Messiah, when he came, would suffer.
It says that he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. Some Jews believe that this passage was describing the suffering of their nation and not the Messiah.
That's how they tried to explain it away. Other Jews believed that there were two Messiahs. One Messiah would be a suffering Messiah. And the other Messiah would be a conquering one. The Jews in the first century, during the time of Jesus, did not like the idea of a suffering Messiah.
They wanted a conqueror. This is why so many Jews rejected the Messiah when he came. He wasn't the Messiah they wanted. Now, every Jew understood that the coming of the Messiah to the earth was an end times event.
It marked the eschaton, as theologians called it. There were many predictions of his coming in the Old Testament. And his coming ushered in a phase of the end. This is fascinating to think about. When we celebrate Christmas, we are remembering an end times event.
And this event happened 2 ,000 years ago. Jesus' coming to the earth is a fulfillment from prophecies made long before he finally came. Jesus' coming to the earth is a fulfillment from prophecies made even at the very beginning.
When Adam and Eve fell into sin and God pronounced judgment upon the serpents, that text says that He would crush the head of the serpent. And He did that 2 ,000 years ago when He went to the cross. That text says that His heel would be bruised and He would crush the head.
But that was His first coming. The celebration of Christmas is known as the First Advent. He came. He died. He rose again. He ascended to heaven. And He's in heaven right now. That's the First Advent.
The Second Advent is the arrival of Him when He comes to the earth. Now, the word Advent is not a word you hear every day. But this is the time of year you hear about it. The Advent season. A dictionary definition of Advent is this.
The arrival of a notable person, thing, or event. The First Advent happened 2 ,000 years ago when the Messiah arrived to the earth from heaven. And the Second Advent will happen at some unknown time in the future when the Messiah arrives to the earth from heaven.
So understand this about Christmas. Christmas has an intricate connection with the end times. It is the first phase of the Messiah's work. And the second phase will happen when He returns. This morning as we continue our sermon series through Matthew and our journey through Matthew 24, we are going to see the end of Matthew 24 where Jesus tells His disciples and all of us that He's coming back.
And it is of utmost importance that everyone is ready for His return. This is what we are going to see this morning in our final two points of Matthew 24 during this long, eight-part sermon through Matthew 24.
Our big idea has been to anticipate the soon return of Christ. Every sermon calls you to do something. The last eight weeks it's been calling you to anticipate the soon return of Christ. And if you haven't already, at this time I encourage you to turn the Bible with me to Matthew 24.
And if you're using one of those red Bibles, it's on page 986. Thus far we've seen 13 practices and this is how you are to anticipate the soon return of Christ. And this morning we're going to see numbers 14 and 15.
And this sermon is once again titled The Great Signs of the End. And this is the final part, part eight. And I realize when you're going through a sermon series, some of you have missed these parts. Some of you this is the first sermon you've heard from Matthew 24.
But it all ties together. And you can always go listen to the old ones as well that are on our website. But here's the 14th practice, how you are to anticipate the soon return of Christ. And that is through realizing that most of the world is unprepared for His return.
Most of the world is unprepared for His return. And we're going to see this in verses 37 through 41. Last week I explained the connection that Scripture makes between Noah's flood. This ancient flood thousands of years ago and the return of Christ.
There I quoted from 2 Peter 3. In 2 Peter 3, the Apostle Peter writes that people deny the reality that Jesus is coming back to the earth. He says in 2 Peter 3, verses 3 and 4, scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
They will say, where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. The same ones who deny this reality of Christ's return are the same ones who have forgotten that this earth was once destroyed by a flood.
The Apostle Peter says the fact of the global flood shows the fact that He's coming back. In our passage in Matthew 24, Jesus also talks about the flood. Interesting. The flood and the end times. Let's see what He says in verses 37 through 49.
For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark.
And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. What Jesus is explaining is that the time right before the flood, life was going on as normal.
People are shopping. Okay, that's modern days. But the examples He gives here, people are eating and drinking. They're getting married. They're excited. They're thinking about their future. We're going to have kids.
Then the flood came. A rude interruption into people's lives. We might think that we control this world. Man might think that we control this world. But a day is coming. A day of reckoning is coming when God is going to interrupt this world and all of people's plans are going to be thrown into flux.
Think of all the things that people think about. The things that people are excited about. The things that people are planning. One day, it's all going to come to an end. Jesus says in 2nd Timothy 39 that this is how it will be when He comes.
The world will be going on with life as normal. But then the unbelieving world will be in for this rude awakening. Over 4 ,000 years ago, God's judgment came on this earth through a flood, and at some unknown time in the future, Jesus will come from heaven to bring an end to world history as we know it.
We see how godless our world is right now. The world we live in now is more godless than even the flood generation. Having a drag queen at children's reading hour is seen as virtuous in our day. Think about that.
That would make the people in the flood era blush. Sodom and Gomorrah wouldn't even do that. But our world does it. And it's promoted. What the 2nd Peter 3 passage is communicating to us is do not think the delay of God's judgment means that no judgment is happening.
People can often think that. We've been talking about the end times for years. It hasn't come. What we must remember is that God is storing up wrath for this godless world, and at some unknown time in the future, He will release His wrath.
At some point, the clock is up. In verses 40 -42, Jesus describes the suddenness of what His return will be like. He says, then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill.
One will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. These verses are often mistaken for a rapture passage. In fact, the Left Behind series with Kirk Cameron mistakenly quotes this verse in connection with the rapture.
But it is not. And we know this because in this context, Jesus is talking about the world experiencing judgment. Remember, He's talking about the flood. He's comparing this to the flood. And the flood is judgment.
In these verses, to be left is a good thing. And to be taken is a bad thing. Because to be taken is to be taken in judgment. Now, the sudden judgment here is probably not just describing Christ coming to the earth at the very end of the final seven-year tribulation when He destroys the Antichrist and his armies.
The sudden judgment is also describing the judgment that is going to take place during the whole final seven years. When we talk about the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord is not describing one event.
It's describing a series of judgments that God is pouring out. So the suddenness is going to be, the people are going to be raptured. The church is going to be raptured. And then the floodgates are going to be released at that point.
And people are going to be taken away in judgment. Revelation chapter 6, verses 15 through 17, which is describing the period of the final seven years, says this. The kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
Call into the mountains and rocks. Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come. And who can stand?
The time of His return will be a rude awakening for many. But for His people, it will be a time of great longing as the time when He comes to the earth and takes His throne is close. When He finally comes back to the earth and takes His throne, Scripture describes the dread of the unbeliever and the delight of the believer.
2 Thessalonians 1, verses 7 through 10 captures this stark contrast. These verses say, 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.
So that's what the unbeliever is going to experience. But verse 10 describes the believer. When He comes on that day to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed. Some don't want Him to come back.
Some do. This is the camp you want to be in. You want Him to come back. To some, it will be the worst day. To others, it will be the best day as He gathers His people to be with Him in eternal joy forever.
This is where we need to remember the meaning of this day, Christmas. It's Christmas Day. We are celebrating the day that God became a man and that man is Jesus Christ. When we talk about the coming of Jesus to this earth, one famous passage explains why He came.
Some of you memorized this when you were younger. John 3, verses 16 -18,. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
Whoever believes in the Son is not condemned. But whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Jesus came to this earth the first time to save.
Think about that verse, verse 17. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. He came on a rescue mission to save sinners. But when He comes again, it will be for two purposes.
To gather His people, which is positive, but there's also this negative side. He is going to judge. One will be taken and the other left. Two will be grinding at the mill. As the text says here, one will be taken and one left.
The righteous are considered righteous not because of one's own merit, but because of Christ's merit. There's two different types of people in this world. There's righteous and there's unrighteous. And you're righteous because of Christ's righteousness.
When Christ went to the cross, He paid the full penalty for one's sins and His righteousness is counted as your righteousness. This is the only way that one receives entrance into heaven. It is through faith and not your works.
It is through believing in Christ's finished work alone. It's so humbling to realize we can do nothing on our own to earn our way to God. It's only through Him. But to the one who rejects Jesus' invitation to believe in Him will receive only judgment.
This is the true message of Christmas and Christmas points to the time when He will come again. But the truth is, most of the world's not ready. Most of the world goes on with life as usual just as they did in the days of Noah.
People are marrying and giving in marriage. They're eating and drinking. They're planning. They're thinking of their lives. They're thinking of what's ahead. They're not thinking that God's gonna interrupt everything and bring this world to a close.
This is the sad reality of the world we live in. As Christ stands at the very gates, as verse 33 says, anticipate the soon return of Christ and the 14th practice how, is through realizing that most of the world is unprepared for His return.
The 15th and final practice how you are to anticipate the soon return of Christ is this. And it's taken us eight weeks to get to this point. Walking with the Lord closely as you wait. Walking with the Lord closely as you wait.
And we'll see this in the final 10 verses here, verses 42 through 51. In the previous point, we saw that most of the world is unprepared for His return. And in this final point, we will see Jesus communicate that the world needs to be ready for His return.
I'm gonna read these verses here and then we'll look at them. Therefore, stay awake for you to not know on what day your Lord is coming, but know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.
Therefore, you also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites in that place.
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus calls for people to be ready for his second advent. Once again, advent means the arrival of someone important and who is more important than Christ. What he does in these verses is use two illustrations.
He first uses the illustration of a master of a house knowing that a thief is coming. And preparing for this thief to arrive at his house. What he says is that if the master of the house had known that a thief was coming, he would have stayed awake.
In the same way, in verse 44, all people on earth must be ready. As that text says, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. The clear message of Jesus and the whole New Testament is that Jesus is coming back and we need to be ready for his return.
This is one of the main focuses of the entire New Testament. Once again, I've heard it said that about one in four verses in some way points to him coming back. It could happen in our lifetime and we need to be ready.
So as we think about this, how does one get ready? I'm gonna talk about the believer and the unbeliever. Let's start with the believer. A believer gets ready very simply by following the Lord closely.
As we have gone through this chapter, we have seen a couple of passages elsewhere in the New Testament that stress this need to get ready. Luke 21, 28 says, now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near.
Second Peter 3 .11 says in light of the end, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? In verses 45 through 47, Jesus uses an illustration to explain faithfulness and the reward that comes to those who are faithful.
In verse 43, we saw Jesus give an illustration about a master of a house, knowing that a thief was coming to the house. In verses 45 through 47, he uses a little bit different illustration describing a master who puts a specific servant over the household to give the household their food at the proper time.
His servant is to do this well. He's to take care of the house while he's away. The servant who does what his master tells him to do while the master is away is called blessed. Verse 47 says that he will be rewarded in the age to come.
As Jesus says, truly I say to you, he will set him over all of his possessions. In this place and throughout the New Testament, there is a correlation between faithfulness in this life and the responsibility given to one in the age to come.
Another way to say this is rewards, heavenly rewards. In the age to come in the new heavens and new earth, all believers will reign with the triune God and each redeemed person present there will have responsibilities.
The more faithful you are in this life, the more responsibility and the higher place you will have in the age to come. Heaven will be great for everyone because it's a place of fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
But for the most faithful stewards, with the time that God has given in this world, those will be considered the most faithful and they will have the most reward and they will have the most responsibility.
When you put the pieces together in the Bible, that's what you get. Once again, you're saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. You're not getting to heaven on your own merit, but once you're saved and you're able to do these spirit generated works, God recognizes that and he's gonna reward you for that in the age to come.
So the faithful believers described here in verses 45 through 47, but in verses 48 through 51, the illustration of the master and his servant continues as Jesus describes what it will be like for the unbeliever at the final judgment.
Let me read these verses again. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.
In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Here, Jesus describes a wicked servant who was put over the house, but the servant says, my master's not coming back anytime soon. I'm gonna do what I want.
I'm gonna mistreat all of the ones that I've been put over. I'm gonna go have a good time. I'm gonna go drink with the drunkards. And then you know what I'm gonna do? When he's really close to coming back, then I'm gonna be on my best behavior.
He doesn't think he needs to do what he's supposed to do until his master's coming back. But again, his master's coming back at an hour he does not expect. So he does not take care of them. He's a horrible steward of what his master has set him over.
And the master returns and the man's not ready for his return. And the master sees what an awful steward he was with the responsibilities given to him. And the result is punishment. As verse 51 says, he will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.
In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This describes hell. There's many different images that the Bible gives about hell. But one of them is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hell is a place where people are sorrowful, weeping.
It's also a place where people are angry. How dare you send me here to this place? Think about that. Very sobering reality. Every single day, people are going to this place of torment. But we have the good news to get them out, to keep people from going there.
So in this illustration, we have two different people presented. We have the faithful follower of Christ who's walking closely with him, who is ready for Christ's return. And Jesus rewards that servant greatly when he returns.
But the other person described here is much different. This person is not ready for Christ's return and lives however he or she wants. And when Christ returns, this person is completely unprepared. And this person will be sentenced to hell.
This is like the person described in 2 Peter 3, verses 3 and 4. There the apostle Peter once again writes, scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, where is the promise of his coming?
For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. Much of the world does not believe that Jesus is coming back. Some people, professing Christians, might even say, might even profess that he's coming back.
But they live a life of self-indulgence and they are no better than the secular person who says point blank, he's not coming back. I mean, think about that. There's unbelievers who are honest and they're going to be judged.
But then there's people who claim the name of Christ, who say he's coming back, but they live nothing like it, showing that there's no true faith in this person. Both people will be unprepared for the return of Christ.
All over the world, people are celebrating Christmas without realizing that Christmas not only is a time to look back at the time when the Messiah, the God-man, came to this earth 2 ,000 years ago, but also a time to look ahead at the reality that he will come again.
So as we wrap up this sermon and the message of Matthew 24, here is the message. Anticipate the soon return of Christ. The Lord calls the believer to walk closely with him. And if you are here today and have never put your trust in Christ, do that today, do not wait.
Scripture says in Acts 16 .31, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You don't want to be the one taken in judgment. You want to be the one spared, who's gathered to be with him. Jesus went to the cross 2 ,000 years ago.
He died for your sins. And on the third day, he was raised from the dead. He earned your salvation for you. But his saving work at the cross is only applied to those who believe. Everyone who rejects him will be judged by him.
He's either your savior or your judge. And what you must understand is that people are not good. We might be fooled by people. I mean, you know the worst of yourself. Other people are that way too. We're all in the same boat here.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We're all a mess if we're honest. Think of how much our lives are messy without God. You're a sinner. It's only good news because it's first bad news.
But it is glorious news. This is the truth. This is the truth. And when you embrace it and when you rest in it, there's nothing more beautiful than that. The God-man, the Messiah, who came 2 ,000 years ago will come again.
In this Advent season, this should be on the forefront of our minds. We should say the last words of the Bible in Revelation 22, 20. Of course, the Bible ends this way, where the apostle John prays, come Lord Jesus.
This concludes Matthew 24. And may we all heed the call from Jesus to anticipate the soon return of Christ. Bow your heads with me at this time, please. Father, this time will pass. Time flies by incredibly fast.
Young people will be old before they know it. Old people will be gone before they know it. And all that's going to matter in the end is, what does one do with Jesus? Is He your Savior? Is He your Lord?
Or will one reject Him and have Him be your judge? This is what matters. And so I pray that everyone here would have that relationship with Jesus so that when they take their last breath or when you return, when you send your Son to return, that is, that people will be ready.
So may this be on our minds this Christmas season. In Jesus' name, Amen.