Ethical Eschatology

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. It is 10 a .m. That was the first thing I've said all day. My wife's out of town, and I almost couldn't say welcome, but I can now. Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry.

My wife is in California with my fourth grandchild, Evelyn. Kim's grandmother who raised her was named Evelyn, so that's kind of a nice homage. That reminds me of D .A. Carson when he says in his Canadian-American French accent, instead of genre, G-E-N-R-E, he'd just say Jean, like Jean-Luc Picard.

Anyway, my name is Mike Abenroth, No Compromise Radio, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. Thanks for listening. We're back on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday shows. We'll have the reruns coming back up on Fridays, and then the sermons on Monday soon enough.

Feeling better? Back in the so-called studio, if you call this a studio. Today on No Compromise Radio, I'd like to talk a little bit about the soon return of Jesus. The soon return of Jesus. Now, you could be pre-trib, pre-mill, probably many of you are, and think, you know, I'm looking for the soon return of Jesus, i .e. the rapture, and so I want to be ready for his return.

Remember, eschatology, about the Lord Jesus, that is, the last times, the last things, we think about his literal bodily return. To judge the living and the dead, you could look at Belgium 37, you could look at the Apostles' Creed, you could look at whatever you'd like.

1689, London Baptist. I just learned that it was written in 1677. I remember reading the 1644 -1646, and I was in my kind of New Covenant theology days. I didn't know any better. I just read the John Risinger book on seeds and Sabbath, or whatever it was, and thought, hey, that sounds pretty good.

Anyway, soon return of Jesus. Now, if you're not, just be pre-mill, you can still say to yourself, I'm looking for the soon return of Jesus, right? Amillennialism. We'll look for the soon return of Jesus, etc.

So my whole point to this is, I'm rambling, but you can believe about whatever you want in terms of the millennial kingdom, or no millennial kingdom, or we're in the millennium now, or whatever you want, as long as you're looking for the soon return of the Lord Jesus.

I'm pretty happy. I'm happy about that. And so Jesus says in Luke 12, I want you to be ready. Keep your lamps lit. The literal language in chapter 12, verse 35 is, gird your loins. So I've never really had a sermon point up until last week.

Point one, loins. I think it was Stephen Cole that said there's four pictures in this passage that will help us with our longing for the Lord's return. Loins, lamps, wedding, and then thief. And certainly Jesus is not a thief.

He's not in a negative way, but like a thief, right? Thieves come at a time you don't expect. So that's the equation there. You can follow me on Twitter if you'd like, Instagram, Facebook. Less on Facebook and Instagram.

My daughters are trying to figure out some hats and shirts and all that stuff, so hopefully we're ramping that up soon. Maybe a new website with one of our listeners helping. We'll see how that all goes.

What to Expect When Jesus Returns

But today on the show, we are talking about what to expect when you're expecting. Have you read that book? I remember Kim reading that. I looked online, 20 million copies sold, written in 1984. And if you have read it, you know what I'm talking about.

It's a book to help you understand pregnancy, month-by-month guide, what goes on, what's happening from the early symptoms through labor and delivery, what to expect when you're expecting. And I thought that was a good title for a sermon.

I'm not a good sermon titler, but I know the passage in Luke, we're to be expecting the Lord's return, and then what do we expect when He returns? What will we find on earth when He returns? What's it going to be like here?

And that's what I want to talk about today. Now before I do that though, one of the most wonderful passages J .C. Ryle said, and Spurgeon, I believe, said it as well, in all the Scripture, is found in Luke 12 with this picture of the wedding.

So while you gird up your loins, you're thinking to yourself, you know, mentally I want to be ready. Right? You'd have a long flowing robe, and then you'd have to tuck it up in your belt so you could run, so you could, like Exodus 12, I believe, with Passover, that's what they had to do, fasten the robe up into your belt.

He says, keep your lamps lit, right? You want to be paying attention spiritually to what's going on. And then he says in Luke 12, 36, be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast.

Big wedding feast, it's at night, you want to make sure you're ready so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. You don't want to have him waiting, he just got married, he's your master, he's a good master.

And you want to make sure that you're there if he needs a towel, if he needs water, if he needs whatever. Then it says, blessed are those, Jesus is saying this, blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on alert when he comes.

That's certainly true, that's good. Those are not lazy servants, they are not lackadaisical servants. Now let's see if I can think of another L word, they're not loser servants. I was not planning on saying the word lackadaisical today.

Jean, blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on alert when he comes. Truly I say to you, now this is the amazing part, this is the wonderful part, that he, the master, will gird himself to serve and have them, the servants, recline at the table and will come up and wait on them.

Wow. Now my guess is, this is language of, I mean, how do you explain it when the Lord does come back? And what goes through your mind, what must it be like? Now remember, we're not going to be judged for any of our sinful deeds, those have been judged at Calvary.

It doesn't matter what the final justification people want to think or say or do. Remember, it is finished, te telestai, paid in full. And, you know, our names are written in the book, and so therefore he's not going to judge our deeds in terms of condemn us because we've sinned as Christians.

Now if you want to argue about rewards and all that, that's fine, but the point here is, can you imagine what it's going to be like when the Lord returns? And there's language here, like Revelation chapter 19 with the marriage supper of the Lamb, and this wedding feast, and this master that comes home to serve, and whatever that service is like to us.

I mean, I think of Jesus, of course, washing Peter's feet. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life for ransom for many. And so that's just language that is, how do you describe, you know, wonder and awe and pleasure and amazement and everything else?

Well, here it's like a master who comes home, and you should serve him, but he serves you. Fantastic. Well, when Jesus comes back, what should we expect when he comes back? What's the world going to be like?

What are people going to be like? And of course, Jesus is the center of history, the center of eternity, the center of the Bible, should be the center of our lives, must be the center of the church, Christ the center.

You ever listen to that podcast? I had lunch with Dan Borvin and Camden Busey January of this year. I'd never met Camden, seemed like a fine, he's a fine fellow, nice guy, smart, and we had, I think we were at TJ's Tacos in Escondido.

If you haven't been there, you ought to go. Well, back to the topic. Jesus shows up, and what's everything going to be like? Now, for us, before we talk about that, you want to be ready. You want to have your lamps lit.

You want to be like men who are waiting. You don't want to get caught off guard like a house that's getting broken into by a thief. And so, this ethical eschatology, ethical eschatology, this will motivate you.

It should motivate you. Remember, the passage in Luke has been talking about covetousness, charitable giving, sacrificial giving, where your heart is. That's been talking about worry, and if you put everything together, you say to yourself, well, this is amazing.

If I knew Jesus was coming back today, this hour, because that's really the whole issue, is chapter 12, verse 40, you too be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. Well, if I'm expecting Him to put it on the positive side, then I should probably not be worried.

He's going to make everything right. I should probably not be covetousness. I should be storing up and heaping up treasures in heaven. I shouldn't be greedy. I should be thinking about the God who keeps His promises.

I don't want to get caught when He returns doing stupid things, or sinful things, or can you imagine looking at pornography, and then the Lord comes back. So, He says, I want you to be dressed for action.

I want you to be ready. I want you to be expecting the Lord to come back. This is called ethical eschatology. Oh, a bunch of bicyclists just rode past. It's rainy and not too nice out, probably only in the 40s.

It is May 2nd today in real time, 2026. How would it be out on the bicycle? I was out yesterday, but it is hard for me to ride a long ways anymore. I rode 20, and I thought, I'm just going home. In the old days, I wouldn't get on the bike for less than 20.

Now, at 20, I think, I'm kind of done. We do not want to predict the timing of the Lord Jesus. These New Testament epistles and gospels are not written so that we would know the date, 1844, or whatever it might be.

We are just to be ready. Listen to Mark 13, be on guard, keep awake. You do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake.

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.

And what I say to you, I say to all, stay awake. Good words from the Lord Jesus. You need to be ready. I try to have things ready for if I'm going to go pack my luggage to go overseas. I'll be teaching in Poland and Germany here soon, some preaching classes, and I'll have things like whatever prescriptions I might need to bring.

I will bring all my supplements. I take red yeast rice, I take turmeric, I take D, I take C, I take baby aspirin, I take you know, omega fish oils, and I'll bring all those things. I also bring, this is very important, Starbucks Via instant coffee.

Now, I've got some other instant coffee that I picked up a while ago, but I think that the Via is better. I'm not the, you know, an uber starbucks fan, or this, that, or the other, but they're instant coffee packets.

I just got 50 of them in the mail, I think for 35 bucks on Amazon. And if you have a little water in a hotel room, like in a third world country, or anywhere, as long as you have some water, maybe even two ounces, you can make a little espresso and it's not too bad.

So if you have the coffee from the coffee maker in your room, it's usually pretty weak. It's got one of those, you know, prefab little pouches. And so then I just add one of these. So all that to say, you want to get ready.

I mean, it's important if you're going to go overseas to pack properly. It's important if you have a car and you say, I'd like to have the tire pump that works, the inflator that plugs in either for the battery, or it plugs into the cigarette lighter.

And I've got a charger for the battery in case it's dead. I've got all these things. I'm ready. We have contingency plans. We make sure we're ready. Could there be anything more important than to be ready for the return of Christ Jesus?

Be ready. The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. And Robert Murray McShane used to say, do you think Jesus is going to come back this hour? And the students would say, no, so you better be ready because he's coming back in an hour that you do not expect.

Not to predict the timing, but to live lives commensurate with our calling. Listen to 2 Peter 3, 10 to 14. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, like a thief, unexpected. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Happy Earth Day. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.

But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3, 14 will go on to again emphasize ethical eschatology. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish or at peace.

So, I used to say that if you're a super-duper end times person, that's all you want to do is study end times and figure it all out. Three views of the millennium, and four views of the millennium, and four views of the rapture, and I have all those books, or used to.

I'm kind of downsizing some books, but that's all right. I say to myself, if you're into that, you ought to be one of the most holy people I know. And sometimes—this is only sometimes, hold your horses—sometimes it's very immature people, and people that have a long way to go in their walk with Christ, who are the ones who are running around with a variety of charts, and who knows what.

And so, if you're going to be an eschatology expert, I think you ought to really be a godly person. Well, anyway, we are still recording here. I'm looking at my sheet, and it looks like it's got a—who knows what?

I'm looking at the Roadcaster Pro 2 here, Roadcaster Pro 2, and something looks off, but we'll see. Yep, yep, that's off. That is so true. Belgic Confession, Article 37. Finally, we believe, according to God's Word, that when the time appointed by the Lord is come, and the number of the elect is complete, our Lord Jesus will come from heaven bodily and visibly as He ascended with great glory and majesty to declare Himself the Judge of the living and the dead.

Ethical eschatology. He's coming back. Let's live holy lives. Now, how are you ready for the Lord's return? Well, the main way to be ready is to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, because if He's already taken care of your sins, then you're ready.

Now, after you're a Christian, and you're a believer, and you're trusting in the Lord as your risen Savior and sin-bearing substitute, then you want to live a life of holiness to please the Lord. Not to get saved, not to stay saved, but because you are saved, right?

Fruit and evidence. You want to honor the Lord who saved you and loved you with an everlasting love, right? So to be ready ultimately is to be a Christian, and you're not going to have Jesus come back and get after you when your sins are already paid for, and there's already no condemnation for those in Christ.

And then as a Christian, then you want to be ready in ways that are...you don't want to be sinning when Jesus comes back. That would be sure dumb. That would be dumb for sure, too. Ethical eschatology.

Jesus is coming back. Live a holy life. And that's something that if you believe, we can get along. If you believe Jesus is coming back bodily and visibly from heaven after the elect, have all believed, then we're friends.

You can be dispensational or not dispensational. You can be covenant. But should I be friends with post-millennial people? Well, full preterist, we already know the answer to that question. Listen to Titus 2 when it comes to ethical, living a holy life in light of Jesus' soon return.

Ethical eschatology, Titus 2, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Ethical eschatology. 1 John chapter 3, verses 1 through 3. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God? And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But what we know, that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Ethical eschatology. That's what we're after when you read the book of Revelation. I don't want you to be thinking about timing. I want you to think about an unveiling, a revelation, apocalypse of the Lord Jesus to show himself in all his glory, in all his wonder.

And for the Christian, we rejoice. For the unbeliever, they are going to be judged. And so ethical eschatology is what we're after. Let's keep going a little bit as we think through this, living holy lives, knowing Jesus could come back any second.

Romans chapter 13, verses 11 through 14. Besides this, you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is near to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand.

So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

It's getting close. Live a holy life. That's called ethical eschatology. Do you think we should entitle the show today Ethical Eschatology? I think we should. First Thessalonians 5, verse 1. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Like. While people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him.

Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another just as you are doing. Let's live holy lives in light of the soon return of Jesus. We are to live with great expectations. Great expectations.

And as we live with great expectations, then we live a holy life. I read this week, who are what you're looking for tomorrow will determine who are what you're living for today. I think that's good, isn't it?

That's excellent. Great expectations. Can you imagine how great that will be? Now, when I was a kid, I had to read Great Expectations. I believe Dickens wrote that book, and I had forgotten, but I looked up online.

There's a guy, there's a person named Pip, an orphan raised by his harsh sister and her kind husband Joe, whose chance encounter with an escaped convict and later introduction to the wealthy, eccentric Miss Havisham, and her cold-hearted war to Stella ignite his desire to become a gentleman.

Wow. Great expectations. Over time, Pip learns that his wealth comes not from upper-class world he admires, but from a convict he once helped, forcing him to confront his misplaced values, guilt, and illusions about class and love.

Ultimately, this online thing says that Pip matures through suffering and repentance, gaining a deeper understanding of loyalty, humility, and what truly constitutes a great expectation. Wow. So, when I was snooping around, I asked a chat, could you make, like, are there Christian values in Great Expectations?

And it says it's not explicitly a Christian novel, but Dickens weaves moral and spiritual concepts throughout Pip's story. Hey, you know, you watch these TV shows, and then you think, well, you know what?

I'm going to make a sermon based on that show, bring out some facts. I'm going to, you know, Gulliver's Travels, and what spiritual lessons can we learn? And if only they were looking at classics. It'd still be atrocious, but it wouldn't be as awful as, you know, Spider-Man.

What can we learn from Spider-Man? And then preach a sermon on it that Sunday. Can you imagine? Well, online I did find that there are spiritual concepts in Great Expectations. Sin, guilt, and conscience, you know, Pip's inner turmoil reflects biblical awareness of sin.

Repentance and transformation, Pip's journey is essentially one of repentance. He turns from vanity and selfish ambition to love and humility. Grace and undeserved kindness, Magwitch's generosity towards Pip is a powerful picture of grace.

The danger of pride, Pip loving status and wealth. True love versus distorted love, Miss Havisham's manipulative love and Estella's coldness contrast with Joe's steady sacrificial care, a la 1 Corinthians 13.

And lastly, but not leastly, suffering as a means of growth, Great Expectations. I don't think I need Pip when it comes to the second coming. We don't need Pip. Pip Squeak? Who names somebody Pip? I have no idea.

I guess Charles Dickens. My name is Mike Avendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. Don't forget, if you want to order 10 books or more, any of the books on Amazon there that I've self-published, you just email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.

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In all seriousness, you can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. Thanks for listening. What is that? Oh, it's still the right song, but in a spot I never knew about before. Listen to that, Christian Harris.