Wednesday, March 30, PM

Word of prayer. Father, I thank you for the day you've given. We thank you for the opportunity to gather together, to eat together, to celebrate the joys of life together, to be able to read your word, hear from your son Jesus Christ according to your Holy Spirit, and then to pray for one another and intercede for each other's needs.

I pray that you would be blessed and honored by the time we spend together here tonight. And it's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Okay, Luke chapter 17, and we'll begin reading in verse 26. Luke 17, verses 26 through 37.

The Days of Noah and Lot as Warnings of Judgment

And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man, they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

Even so, will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who was on the housetop and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who was in the field, let him not turn back.

Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you in that night, there will be two men, one in bed, one will be taken in one bed, and one will be taken, the other will be left.

Two women will be grinding together, the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field, the one will be taken and the other left. And they answered and said to him, where Lord? So he said to them, wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

The Kingdom of God Already Among You

So one of the initial questions that we need to ask, because Jesus makes the comparison, is that he says that in the days of the Son of Man, it will be like as in the days of Noah. What was it like in the days of Noah?

Brother Red? I didn't know if you had first-hand experience. Okay, a little bit after. Days of Lot, probably. Okay, well it sounds like the days of Noah are much like the days of Lot, like the days of the Son of Man, when people were just going about their normal business.

That the threat of judgment was there, the warnings of judgment had been given, and yet the people continued on as if there was nothing to be concerned about, as if nothing was going to happen. Jesus says the days of the Son of Man, and a similar way of saying the day of the Lord, a day of judgment, will be like at the days of Noah.

I remember the context that Jesus has just been answering a question from the Pharisees and the scribes saying, well, when is the kingdom of God going to come? Why don't you just tell us that, be clear about it.

Jesus says it's not going to show up like other kingdoms do, where you can see a boundary here or a boundary there, but the kingdom of God is already among you, it's in your midst, it's already arrived.

He said that several times already in the Gospel of Luke, notably one time he said that if he is casting out demons then the kingdom of God has certainly arrived and shown up right there in front of them.

The kingdom of God had arrived, the kingdom of heaven had arrived, because Jesus had arrived, and he's the king. And Jesus says that, he says to his disciples in verse 22 of Luke 17, that time's going to come when they're going to want to see one of the days of the Son of Man, meaning they're going to want to see a day of judgment in which God is glorified, the people of God are delivered, and the wicked are cut down to size.

Which is a common desire of most believers. God, why don't you show yourself powerful, let's see the wicked go down, let's see the redeemed upheld and saved and delivered, and Jesus says you're going to be wanting to see that, but be careful that that desire does not open you up to deception, because they're going to come around and they're going to say things like, hey let's go out into the wilderness, come see this sign over here, or let's go into Jerusalem into this inner chamber and we're going to show you something there, there's the Messiah there.

And Jesus says don't listen to them, the days of the Son of Man are going to be a days of judgment that's going to be all over this area, it's going to be widespread, it's going to be obvious. Of course we know from the context that this is connected to Matthew 24 and Mark 13 and Luke 21, speaking about the judgment that was going to come upon Judea, which Jesus told them to escape.

He did not want them living through the Great Tribulation, he said the way you escape it is to leave Judea, and to do so quickly. And that's what this portion is, the instructions about not going back off the top of your house, you're on top of your house.

How many people spend a lot of time on top of their house by the way? Hanging out, grilling, cooking up some food, lawn chairs on top of your house perhaps? Every evening you climb the steps the side of your house and you go and you hang out on your roof.

That's what they did, that was their custom. Jesus says when the time comes to flee you don't even have time to come down off the top of your house and go inside to grab anything, you just got to go. And he's warning them not to value, not to value the possessions of their life, the priorities of their life, the patterns of their life more than his instructive word.

Noah, the Flood, and the Days of the Son of Man

The days of the Son of Man will be like the days of Noah. Let's think about the days of Noah. Genesis chapter 6, in Genesis chapter 6 we read about the days of Noah. Days of Noah were days of violence, days of compromise, days of wickedness, days that angered the Lord.

Verse 5 says, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

So God sent a worldwide flood out of which only eight were saved, including representatives of all the animal kingdom. And you know what God said after this great cataclysm came upon the human race, after the flood?

He said that men were exactly the same afterwards. Isn't that funny? All the big disaster movies that we watch, man always learns their lesson and comes together and they get changed and everybody's, you know, these experiences just make everybody better afterwards.

Well, in reality that doesn't work that way. Verse 6, the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.

A little bit earlier in the chapter, verse 3, the Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever for he is indeed flesh. It is days, his days shall be 120 years. So, as in the days of Noah, so also in the days of the Son of Man.

There's a time frame. It's a countdown. Judgment's coming. The days of Noah, that's 120 years, and the days of Christ, he said they'd be about 40 years before the great judgment would hit. Those made in the image of God were betraying God's design for them, as well as the people of Israel breaking covenant with the Lord in the days of Christ.

Peter tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness, and it didn't seem like he had very many converts. Jesus was also a preacher of righteousness. There was a way of escape in the days of Noah, and there was a way of escape in the days of Christ.

The holiness of God was about to be manifested in his judgment in the days of Noah, so also in the days of Christ. There was a chosen servant preparing the way of salvation in the days of Noah, and there was a chosen servant preparing the way of salvation in the days of Christ.

And people were living their lives in either ignorance or in abject rejection of the warnings that were being given. So, a lot of similarities. A lot of similarities, but the primary similarity that Jesus points out is that of the continuation of people's lives ignoring the Word of Christ.

And so he says that they ate and they drank, they married wives, were given in marriage. Now, those are not bad things. Those are not bad things. God made us in his image, and he said, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.

And these are good things, but they are not good to do in rejection of the Word of Christ or ignoring the instructions of Christ. Normal life, normal life lived in ignorance or defiance of Christ's warnings is disastrous.

You may have friends or relatives, acquaintances who live their lives very conservatively. They get married and stick together, and they have children, and they use common sense, and they save, and they invest wisely, and they live diligently, and they don't cheat people generally.

And we call them, you know, they're just good folks, salt of the earth, so on and so forth. But if they're living their lives in ignorance or defiance of the Word of God, that's not good. That's disastrous.

We've got to be careful that we don't look around and see people living in a certain lifestyle and say, well, they're good to go. These people were doing good, responsible, very human things, and it wasn't good that they were ignoring the Word of Christ.

Jesus adds to the illustration of the flood the illustration of Sodom and Gomorrah. If there was two great illustrations from the Old Testament of judgment, we would think of the flood. We think of Sodom and Gomorrah.

He said it's just like that days in the lot. They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. All these are good things, good things. However, on the day that lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

So, we have to consider that Jesus is... Is this my phone? Nope, not mine. That mine's off. Jesus says, remember Lot's wife. What did Lot's wife do? She looked back, which means she turned around, she reoriented herself, and she was heading back, is the idea.

And she was destroyed, and she became an example to be remembered. Remember Lot's wife. We should remember that our priorities and our plans and our routines, our possessions, are not more important than the Word of Christ.

Not more important. In this particular instance, in this particular case, what Jesus is telling his disciples and warning them about, it's pretty specific. The days of when the Son of Man is revealed.

He tells them that when they see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, it's time to get out. He tells them, don't stick around. You're not going to be able to control what's going to happen next. Very likely you're going to die.

See what he says about the day of the Son of Man? I tell you that in that night, there will be two men in one bed, the one will be taken, the other will be left. Two women will be grinding, they're grinding their grain.

One will be taken, you grind the grain in the morning, by the way. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken, the other left. That's what you do, you go out to the fields in the morning, but you're there in the afternoon as well.

So is it evening, morning, or night? The days of the Son of Man, the judgment that was coming upon that region within about 40 years was one in which people were trapped, they couldn't get out. There was internecine conflict, a three-way civil war beyond the fact that the Romans pressing in, and there was just no way to know whether you're going to survive or not.

It was basically a coin toss. Hey, you know, one farmer is going to survive, the other one's not going to survive. It's going to be disastrous. Now notice what it said. Jesus is warning his disciples about great disaster.

The flood came and swept people away. The fire and brimstone fell and destroyed all these people, and he says it's going to be just like that. There's all sorts of people are going to die. One will be there, one will be taken away.

One will be there, one will be taken away. One will be there, one will be taken away. And the disciples ask a very appropriate question. Same question that we might ask. Verse 37, and they answered and said to him, where, Lord?

Where are they going to be taken away? The ones that are taken away. And he said, wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Now, of course, eagles are this patriotic bird for us, but they eat dead things.

They eat dead things. Interestingly enough, there was a word for vultures, and Jesus doesn't use it here. He uses the word for eagles, and eagles were on every standard of every Roman legion to which they offered sacrifices, and so I think Jesus is being very specific here.

Christ the Son of Man and the Call to Flee Judgment

So, Christ is giving particular instructions. They ask him, when is the kingdom of God going to come? He says it's already arrived. The particular manifestations that it's going to show that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, and that he does what he says is going to come when Jerusalem is destroyed by judgment.

He is the Son of Man of Daniel chapter 7, and like Noah, he is a preacher of righteousness. Like Abraham, he intercedes for his own, as he did in the days of Lot. But notice that deliverance is on his terms and his timing.

The instructions that he gives, how important are they? How difficult would it be to follow his instructions? How difficult would it be to follow his instructions? Be very difficult. I have a field to harvest.

I've got grain to grind. I have a house to repair. I have a business deal. I've got to get this flock of sheep over to Jerusalem and sell it. This is my livelihood here. How difficult would it be to break the inertia of the normal patterns of life and just leave everything according to the timing that Jesus prescribed?

It would be very, very difficult to do. But what cost would there be if they didn't follow those instructions? Jesus says, remember Lot's wife. Keep that image in your head. He also says, do not seek to save your own life.

Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Which would be true in any particular time of judgment, but also in terms of the big picture. In terms of the big picture, you cannot save yourself.

In fact, when Jesus gives the call to salvation, he says to repent and believe the gospel. He says to take up your cross and follow him. He says to die to the self, to live in him. Well, we remember the quote from Jim Elliot, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

How true that is. Questions or thoughts about our passage tonight? Yeah, so Luke 17 and Luke 21 together, same information as Matthew 24. Same information as Mark 13. Very specific judgment where Jesus says, behold all these buildings, the temple, not one stone here will be left upon another.

Disciples ask for a time frame, Jesus says, within this generation. No, this is the same thing. We know that, we know that Luke 17, Luke 17 is the same time frame as Luke 21 and Matthew 24 because when we read them out loud, they're the same information, the same verses.

So, for instance, when you read, in that day he who is on the housetop and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away and likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.

Alright, those instructions? Okay, so where else did we read those? So we read those in Matthew 24, verse 17. Let him who was on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house and let him who was in the field not go back to get his clothes.

It's the same instructions, the same information. And the same thing will be in Mark chapter 13 as well. So just simply by reading Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, Luke 17, all four of those chapters have the same information, talking about the very same thing.

That's called the analogy of Scripture, so that we compare Scripture along with Scripture to see where we're at. Yes, yes, we should be praying for them tonight, shouldn't we? Yeah, let's put them on the list, shall we?