Christian Vigilance

The Kingdom of God and the Coming of the Son of Man

Please turn in your scripture to Luke 17 this is on page 877 if you're using the pew Bible. Luke 17 we're going to begin our scripture reading in verse 20, but the preaching text will begin in verse 26.

When you have that please stand for the reading of God's Word. Luke 17 beginning in verse 20. Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come he answered them. The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can 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 he said to the disciples the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and you will not see it and They will say to you look there or look here.

Do not go out and follow them for 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. But first you must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Likewise just as it was in the days of Lot. They were eating and drinking buying and selling planting and building. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.

So it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day let the one who is on the housetop with the goods in his house not come down to take them away and Likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back.

Remember lots wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I Tell you in that night there will be two in one bed one will be taken in the other left.

There will be two women grinding together one will be taken in the other left and they said to him Where Lord and he said to them where the corpse is there the vultures will gather. These are the words of Lord.

Amen. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word that you've given us for this disclosure of the future and how that is a great kindness to us something that Your son has told us makes us his friend.

That he has told us what he is doing. And so we thank you for this this Disclosure of your plan and we ask that you would help us to live in Accordance with that disclosure that we would understand your word and that we would live by it in Jesus name.

Amen. Well, I have good news this morning. That good news is that Jesus is returning. Amen. Yes. Amen now we do not know when he is returning but he has given us instructions for how to be vigilant during that time and The key to vigilance in this passage is not the sorts of things that you might usually think of when you think of vigilance.

While the Bible does occasionally speak of vigilance in terms of staying awake and watching. Here it speaks of vigilance in terms of desire. And so the key to Christian vigilance is desire as We see even beginning here in this passage.

Noah, Lot, and the Suddenness of Judgment

So looking at verse 26 and just reading the first part of this just as it was in the days of Noah. So it will be in the days of the Son of Man. We've spoken about how the days of the Son of Man are known in the Reformed tradition as the kingdom of glory the kingdom of Grace is here but that kingdom being fully manifested in a glorious way known as the kingdom of glory that is still coming and So these are spoken of as the days of the Son of Man.

Because Daniel 7 speaks of the Son of Man coming in glory bringing judgment. Daniel 7 verse 13 says I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man and He came to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom.

That all the people's nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion. Which shall not pass away in this kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. So Because sin has entered the world and God has saved a particular people for himself.

It is necessary for that King for that Son of Man to come and to save his people by coming in judgment. And this is given with a couple of analogies here. We see the comparison made to Noah. We see the comparison made to Lot.

Both of these were large-scale judgments That saved God's people. There is judgment In Noah's time through the flood through the flood that wiped out the entire world and saved the eight people in the ark.

There was judgment and lots time by fire raining from heaven it speaks here of Fire and sulfur. Older translations talk about fire and brimstone. You might be familiar with that phrase Referring to the fire that came down on The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in order that the that lot and his family would be saved out of the city.

So these are pictures of judgment that will come upon the world because of its sin. Now the desire of each Individual person should be to escape that judgment. How do you escape that judgment? You escape it by turning to the mercy of Jesus Christ.

He will forgive you of your sins and he will save you from that judgment. But what should the Christian be doing during that time as I said. This is a this is a passage that speaks of vigilance. And so we must be vigilant.

Vigilant through continuing to desire this kingdom. Speaks here of the revelation of the Son of Man. Says they were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage. Until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all likewise just as it was in the days of Lot they were eating and drinking buying and selling planting and building.

But on the day when lot went out from Sodom fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. The Son of Man has already come. But he will be revealed in glory on that last day and it's fitting that this passage speaks of both Noah.

And it speaks of lot because this is a similar comparison. We see later on in Peter and second Peter says in chapter 3 verse 5 for they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and Through water by the Word of God and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

But by this same word the heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire being kept until the Judgment the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly. And so there was a worldwide Cataclysm of Flood of deluge and there will be one of fire and so to describe this Luke speaks of the flood that was worldwide and he speaks of a citywide fire fire raining down on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

I you will note if you compare this to Matthew 24 that this mention of lot is is Additional to what you see in Matthew. Matthew it it only mentions Noah and so what is the comparison that's being made between the days of the Son of Man and days of Noah and the days of lot.

The first is that it's sudden. It's something that people weren't expecting. People weren't expecting this in the days of Noah. They were going about their own business. They were marrying giving in marriage.

They were buying and selling etc. Planting and building and Then the flood came and they were not prepared only Noah and his family were prepared. In the same way with lot when judgment came it was sudden and the city was not prepared.

There were no one righteous. There was no one who is ready for this. And so they all suffered and died in the In the raining of fire and brimstone the raining of fire and sulfur on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

And so these things were sudden now. They were not sudden in the way in the sense that God had not given them Sufficient means to anticipate these things. In fact, there were plenty of warnings. Noah had warned his people for many years.

There were many years that he was building the ark before the rains came in addition. Those people who were banging down at lots door were given ample warning and then they were even blinded. Something that's clearly some divine act and yet they did not take this warning and go their way but continued in their foolishness and so The fact that will come suddenly the fact that judgment will come suddenly when the Son of Man is revealed does not mean that people Don't have ample warning.

They do have ample warning. It's simply that they do not heed this ample warning. And so it is unexpected for them though. It is not unexpected for others. However, something that you should consider here is that this is not primarily talking about the suddenness of judgment.

That's one side of the coin. It's primarily talking about the other side of the coin, which is the suddenness of this Salvation here you see this. When it talks about Noah Noah was one who was saved through judgment Lot and his family was one who is saved through judgment.

It's about being ready for salvation. Which is the same thing as being ready for judgment? These are two sides of the same coin, but I believe the emphasis here is on being ready for salvation and you see that Luke has some intention with where he has places and what he has done in adding the mention of lot and adding the mention of lot.

He includes not only the statement about lots wife who looked back Right. She was in some sense ready for judgment, but she was not ready for salvation. She was not ready to continue looking onward and with the mention of lot.

He also adds Buying and selling billing building and planting not just eating and drinking and giving a marriage and being married, right? These are things that might sound on first glance like excessive celebration with the mention of lot.

It adds some smaller things some things that are just the parts of daily life building and planting. These are things we're supposed to do certainly buying and selling. This is just this is just normal life.

And so the concern here is not. It's not about A kind of vigilance that you might think it is about desire. That we must desire and not be distracted By the things of the world or in by the things of the world.

I don't just mean the sinful things of the world. I mean anything in the world that we must be ready for salvation ready to not look behind and Be attached to anything here, but be ready for the return of the Son of Man.

Desire for the Kingdom Over the Things of the World

So to read this passage again just as it was in the days of Noah. So it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage and then for a lot.

It says that they were buying and excuse me eating and drinking buying and selling planting and building. So some of these things are are celebratory, right? And some of these things are just normal things and these are these are all good things that God has told us to do.

Where it becomes a problem is where those things conflict and they compete with other things that God has called us to do that are of higher priority. One of those is to repent now when you hear Eating and drinking might even think of the phrase.

Let us eat and drink for tomorrow. We die. Often people neglect repentance because they have joys now to enjoy. Many people are very much wrapped up and the pleasures of today and are not thinking about anything else.

And so they do not repent they do not turn from their sins. But Moreover in addition to just In addition to just the simple fact of competing with Competing with repentance. It also competes with a desire for the things of God.

It is the case as people Encounter the things of this world. Maybe they're living a relatively good lifestyle maybe they have Involved themselves in a church and so outwardly it looks like there are one of repentance but Because they are developing and harboring and cultivating an inward attachment to the things of the world.

They are not Desiring the things of God as they ought to desire them. And why is that it's because the things of the world are so much easier to be entertained by right? It's so Your five senses are so much stronger than your spiritual senses.

They're they're more immediate. They feel more natural. Right, you're just just comparing your your senses themselves. People enjoy video. They're more engaged by video than they are by audio. Why. Because your eyes are a much stronger sense than your ears are now.

This is true also when you think of the soul the spiritual senses that you have are an even weaker sense and so it's. It is very easy for people to be very engaged and stimulated by their outward senses.

Rather than by those spiritual things that are true consider what Paul says about. What Paul says about Demas. He says in 2nd Timothy 4 9 do your best to come to me soon speaking to Timothy for Demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Crescens has gone to Galatia Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. And so you have all these various people leaving Paul and Demas especially Leaving him on account of his love for the things of the world.

Imagine someone who is at that time and the first century, you know engaged in in ministry but then you know just becomes Dissatisfied with it and wants to enjoy the things of the world wants to enjoy the the good things of the world and so he he leaves.

This is how the enemy often works a lot of times he doesn't tempt us with things that are bad. Inherently, but things that are good that compete with the things of God. This is what the fisherman does when he you know lures in the fish.

It's not that there's anything wrong with a worm right worm is good food for the fish. But he lures him in with that good thing in order to trap him and this is how the enemy often works. Even those good things in your life can compete with the desire that we must have for the things of God and This is especially a concern for any who live in a world of prosperity.

Just consider the prosperity that no one experienced and lot experienced. I'm not sure if you've ever thought of this, but I think this is one of the main Comparisons that's being made here. Is that these were people who?

Were Inlands that were incredibly Prosperous and so they were doing all these things, you know feasting eating. Giving a marriage and enjoying all the things that you can have in good times of peace. These were prosperous people.

Now just consider the Bible doesn't tell us much about it. But if you just speculate a little about the times of Noah in our times. We live 70 some-odd years, you know people start their career in earnest, you know from 20 and maybe work until they're 70 maybe.

You know, and so that's that's 50 years of experience. Right 50 years of hard work and building things in the time of Noah. You have people who scripture is telling us are living 600 900 years. Imagine if the world were full of people who are living 900 years 920 years and so you've got 900 years of experience right as you're building as you're doing as you're making these were people who were Far more advanced than you might have previously considered.

I don't know how advanced they are scripture doesn't tell us but there was a very Massive society that had developed and that was able to develop in the time of Noah and advance and and build and plant and These were almost certainly a very very prosperous people.

One one thing to illustrate this. Okay, so Tolkien when he wrote the Lord of the Rings. This was supposed to be in our earth. Middle Earth is not supposed to be in some other universe like Narnia is right.

Narnia's On the other side of the wardrobe in a in a different planet right or in different universe. Tolkien when he wrote the Lord of the Rings He intended Middle Earth to be a prehistoric version of his of this earth.

Now there are some things that don't fit with the Bible. But what he was imagining in his head was basically what does that antediluvian antediluvian meaning before the flood? What does that? Antediluvian world look like where people are where some creatures are living very long periods of time and are building large societies.

And so he's in his mind speculating about about how prosperous society could look like Before the flood when people are living long when people are you know able to enjoy these things prior to the flood.

So Noah is living in an incredibly Prosperous time. The same is true with Lot if you read Genesis 14, and it talks about how Some had come and stolen all the possessions away from from Sodom and had taken it away, and then the king of Sodom Ends up getting the help of Abraham and Abraham rescues Lot and all the possessions of Sodom and gives them back to the king of Sodom.

The king of Sodom offers him all these possessions and This is if you never considered about how great this is Lot when went to the land of Sodom because it was so prosperous. Right because the fields were good.

And this is a picture of Abraham essentially being offered the wealth of the world and rejecting it right just like Jesus does in Matthew 4 or Luke 4. Sodom and Gomorrah these were prosperous prosperous cities so one of the main points of choosing these particular examples is Not just the sudden judgment, but the prosperity that they were experiencing.

Now how does that apply to us? Oh? Man, we are a prosperous society we live in the most prosperous time that has ever existed. We live in the most prosperous country of all the countries in that time.

We live in the most prosperous state of all the states in that country in our own city arguably one of the most prosperous of those. And I've mentioned this to some of you before but in 2022 there's a website called smart asset.

They did a bunch of calculations. They called it you know they were trying to quantify the happiest city in America, but basically where they were just taking a Quality of life metrics and personal finance metrics together and grouping them together and What city out of all the cities in the entire US was considered the number one the best quality of life?

The Sunnyvale it was Sunnyvale, California if you have not considered. Just how similar your time is to the time of Noah how similar your time is to the time of Lot. It is very similar the kind of danger that they experienced to go and enjoy the things of the world are the kinds of danger that that you may experience and just.

Just one note that I forgot to mention here about about Sodom. Sodom sin is described as the same sin of the Pharisees and Ezekiel. It's described as the same sin of being prosperous and not caring for the poor remember.

That's the context here in Luke 17. Ezekiel 16 49 behold this was the guilt of your sister Sodom she and her daughters had pride Excess of food and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

You know you often might think of Sodom and Gomorrah as their primary sin being homosexuality now. There's a reason that homosexuality and prosperity go hand in hand. Why when people are affluent they they end up going to these things but?

The way the prophets remember Sodom is that their sin was primarily and The root of their sin was in the prosperity right and they're not taking care of the poor so this is. Once again, you know scripture attests to the fact that this is how we're supposed to be thinking of Noah and Lot as these are Prosperous times and these people are getting distracted From the things of God and so we ought not to let let these things Be such to be such.

Distractions it says in this next passage here in verse 31 on that day let the one who is on the housetop with his goods and the house not come down to take them away and likewise Let the one who is in the field Not turn back.

Remember lots wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. And this is something that Jesus has said before in Luke in Luke 9 24 He said whoever loses his life whoever preserves his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

So on that day let not the one come down. You know he should not he should not go and get his things. He should just run run for salvation. The same thing with the one who is in the field. He should not go back to his house.

He should run for salvation. What happened to lots wife. She looked back at Sodom. She turned into a pillar of salt and she was not saved because she was looking back. She was not just running Running to salvation, and this is what is required of us.

Cultivating Desire Through the Means of Grace

So what is the what is the vigilance and I've already said this many times already. The vigilance here is not the kind of vigilance that you might initially think of. It's not watching. In fact this passage has already told Us that we cannot watch for this.

Right it is said they will say look there look here. Do not. It is not something that can be watched for it said previously. That it is not coming in a way that can be observed the kingdom of God is not coming in a way that can be observed.

The way that you are vigilant is not by trying to read all the all the going on Geopolitically to try to figure out when Jesus is coming. This is not the task of vigilance for the Christian the task of vigilance is to maintain that fire of desire within your heart.

To When the be ready when the house is on fire that you don't go back to it, but you run from it. You don't rush in and all collapse on you, but you run from it. You have that stoked desire in your own heart a Mixing metaphors here with two different fires apologize for that that you've got that fire in your own heart that you are running.

Running for salvation. Do you are not like? Do you are not like lots wife here lots wife who has Who turns back. And so how do you do this. How do you? Develop this desire. You cannot seek to preserve your own life, or you will lose it if you Lose your life.

You will keep it and this was the case for the people of old as well. You see and in Hebrews and Hebrews 11 15 It says if they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out They would have had opportunity to return but as it is they desire a better country.

That is a heavenly one so even those folks Who went into the who went into the promised land who were seeking the promised land? They could have turned back to their homeland. But they continued on dwelling in tents because they had that desire for these things.

And this is a very this is a very Luke in theme right this Desiring the consolation of Israel right from the very beginning the first two chapters. You know what marks the people of God from others is that they have a desire for the consolation of Israel.

They have a desire for the Lord to come and rescue them. Why is this so important? This is important because this is. This is the nature of saving faith basically is to desire the things of God the one who the one who does not desire it who thinks that they have what they Need in this life is not trusting in the Lord.

The one who realizes they do not have what they need in this life. And they need the Lord is the one who truly trusts in him. Okay. This is the difference between believing the gospel in a saving way and Believing the gospel in a not saving way believing the gospel in a way that is is superficial and outward we must Have this desire for the kingdom of God.

It's just like the the song says if you know the song we sing that says the only fitness He requires is that you feel your need of him. You know, that is the fitness. He requires not your works, but that you Realize your need of him.

And so we must cultivate we must cultivate this desire. First off just in enjoying the things of God. You know every almost every sermon one of the applications is going to be use the means of grace, right?

Read your Bible pray enjoy the fellowship of the saints. Yes do those things but do them in a way where you recognize that part of the purpose of why you're doing those is to Cultivate a desire as you read the Bible part of your goal should be to cultivate a desire for the Word of God so that you enjoy it as You pray it should be to cultivate a sweet relationship with the Lord so that you enjoy it and those people who do spend time in the word do spend time praying.

Do enjoy it more and more. You speak to an older saint and you will see very quickly that they tend to enjoy these things way much more than the young. Do it's because they have spent a long time cultivating that desire.

Cultivating that enjoyment of the things of God. You do not neglect these things do not neglect the fellowship where we where we gather to celebrate to have that Antithetical celebration right the celebrations of the world which are not necessarily bad celebrating a wedding etc.

But then when we celebrate the things of God, we remind ourselves that this is far more important. This is we're celebrating every single week. Not just once a year. This is a this is something of profound importance that Christ has come to die to save his people and he is coming again.

So cultivate a desire by enjoying the means of grace and as you enjoy them know that part of your purpose is to enjoy them more. Secondly flee from the things of the world. Now if these are sinful things then that is that is the application right there.

Just simply flee from those things flee from simple simple things. Do not develop any kind of Attraction to them do not develop any kind of attachment to those things. Leave those things behind. But in addition to that consider other ways that you can reduce your attachment to the things of the world that are not inherently sinful.

Many people spend a lot of their time in entertainment and not a lot of time in work. That's a way of just really satisfying your senses with the things of this world. Once again, nothing inherently wrong with entertainment on its own.

But the way a lot of people use it is in a way that develops Attachments to the things of this world and this is something that you should be moving away from. You know the the commandment that we looked at this morning in the Catechism question the fourth commandment.

It starts off Not with the seventh day. It starts off with the six days six days. Shall you labor and do all your work? Because of the prosperous society we live in we don't have to do nearly as much work as people have in times past right in times past I Know almost everyone is involved in something.

That's part of the the bare necessities of life. You know, they've got a Get up and milk the cows or or take care of things all around their home. There's a lot of things that have to be done in less prosperous societies in our society.

Even people who work, you know. Quote-unquote difficult jobs get up late you know and and you know show up at a late hour and You know have a lot of free time for themselves now that's all wonderful to have those blessings to be able to enjoy more things, but rather than filling all that with just an entertaining of the senses, you know using that as Temptation rather than as a real opportunity of blessing, you know.

You should use that in some productive way. That's for the good of your family for the good of your church. Do not fill up all that all that free time that you have in this prosperous society. With just entertaining the senses and becoming more and more attached to the world.

Also give give generously. You want you want practice you want a fire drill that you can do for on that day when the Son of Man comes and you? Need to leave all your stuff behind. Here's the fire drill is.

Practice getting rid of it now. Okay, and this is this is hard to do but be generous with your wealth give Sacrificially not just a little bit and an amount that doesn't feel like any kind of Difficulty you are training for that day.

And it doesn't matter whether or not he comes in your lifetime because on that day. The question is will you be found faithful and so you must be found faithful train yourself now to be To be giving your stuff your wealth generously Sacrificially so that you don't feel attached to it.

You know what happens as people give. As people give they feel less attached to their things if they don't give them they feel Attached to them. You can practice this you can develop this now. The same is true with The same is true with Fasting you know fasting is a Christian discipline that many people do not practice.

Maybe you look at your own life, and you try to think back to the last time you fasted is maybe it's never right. Maybe it's a very long time ago. Maybe it's never this part of what we do in fasting is to reevaluate our priorities and to acknowledge that God is more important than bread itself.

God is more important than food itself. Seek the Lord even in fasting give up things so that you can have a Have a well-practiced Spirit in acknowledging things of the world are not valuable compared to the things of God and once again I'd like to take this opportunity to Remind you of how much how much danger you're in and in the situation you live right you're in a very prosperous.

You're one of the most prosperous areas It has ever existed in the history of the world and in the whole geography of the world as it exists. And then on top of that we're in a society where even Christians Do not practice a lot of these things like fasting on any kind of on any kind of regular basis.

If you if you hear this and you think about the need for cultivating desire and your first thought is oh, yeah I desire these things. Definitely make sure that you aren't lying to yourself. Okay, make sure that you are not are not kidding yourself because the Situation that you have been placed in is one that is set so hard.

Against you to make sure that you do not desire the things of God and you do desire the things of the world. You know the addict always says oh I can I can quit anytime I want right and then time comes to quit.

He can't quit right? That's that's what a lot of people in the world are doing. They say well, I can you know, I can devote myself to the things of God when I when I see the need to. When that day comes you won't be ready.

You need to be doing this now. Now is the time to be giving yourself to the Lord. Now is the time to enjoy? The things of God like that song that we sang love makes obedience sweet. This is not a. The things that are being given to you here now are not hard burdens they are light burdens.

They are they are far better than the slavery that the world offers, right? This is the good news that you can enjoy these eternal things you can enjoy the things of God in a way that is far greater than anything that the world has to offer and I'm inviting you to start enjoying that now in preparation for that day when we get to enjoy it forever in the rest of this passage he says I Tell you in that night there will be two in one bed.

One will be taken in the other left there will be two women grinding together. One will be taken in the other left and he said to them where Lord His disciples asking him. Remember, we're going back and forth in this in this discourse between him talking to the Pharisees and him talking to the disciples right now.

He's turned and talked to the disciples about the kingdom after having talked to the Pharisees about the kingdom. So the disciples are asking him where Lord he said to them where the corpse is. There the vultures will gather.

Also, I'd note that recall that as he's talking to his disciples He has told them essentially do not over desire the kingdom so that you're being duped by people who saying here He is there he is and now he's telling them but do not under desire either.

It must be it must be desired fully the way it is meant to be desired with the with the appropriate vigilance. A couple of comments about this passage because it confuses several people or it confuses many people the the first one is the Luke 36.

I mentioned this earlier in the scripture reading you see Luke 36. It's not there. It it's simply the case that the oldest manuscripts we have do not do not have this verse. It's it seems apparent that this verse doesn't is an attempt to harmonize with Matthew.

It's just the verse that you see in Matthew that says there are two men standing in a field and one taken in the other Left. Okay, so it's just that verse. That we have in Matthew. The second is I don't know if you've ever heard this.

But some people use this as a as a verse trying to show that the Bible affirms homosexuality. If you've ever encountered that before that's not the case. It's it should be obvious. That's not the case older translations in verse 34 say I tell you in that night There will be two men in one bed comparing to the women in the next verse right two women grinding.

Talking about you know, the work of grain working with grain. And so because older translation says there will be two men in one bed. Many people take that to be an affirmation of homosexuality. It's Obviously unrelated to that and it doesn't it does not even literally say men it just says there will be two in one bed and.

Then it goes to women and the like I said older translations just make it parallel women by by inserting the word men. Okay, so those two things considered the next thing to consider for this passage is what does it mean to be taken?