I'm doing tonight.
I'm doing all right.
I think Pastor Ben's gonna come and make an announcement
after the sermon.
Just reading the notes here, but we're gonna pray
and then we'll get started.
Thank you Lord for allowing us to come together tonight
and to get into your word.
And I just pray that as we look through this,
we could see how it applies to our lives
and that we could make the changes
that you point out to us Lord,
that we could walk more like you leave in here tonight
and I just thank you for the opportunity
and for this new year that we could worship you
and serve you together.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
And so tonight we're gonna be doing a one off
because we would have done this series
but we were doing other things for the Christmas season.
So it's gonna be called Looking Forward with Expectation
and it's gonna be in Matthew 24.
And so today's the first Wednesday of the year.
Are you guys glad to be here?
I'm glad you guys are here.
I'm glad to be here.
And so since it's 2025 and we're looking forward
to this new year, I wanna ask you guys,
what are you looking forward to this year?
And you wanna pull a Pastor Ben,
you can look to the person beside you on three
and you just tell them what you're looking forward to
and I'll tell you all what I'm looking forward to, okay?
You ready?
One, two, three, go ahead.
What are you looking forward to this year?
You guys aren't looking forward too much, huh?
New grandbaby, that's awesome.
You weren't expecting me to have you guys talk, were you?
You were. That's awesome.
This year, I am looking forward to walking again.
That'll be great.
That would be great.
So I'm looking forward to that.
There's something, when it comes to looking forward,
there's really one condition to looking forward
and it has to, it's that what you're looking forward to
has to be something in the future.
The event has to take place in the future.
You can't look forward to something
that's already occurred.
And some people are looking forward to Trump taking office.
Some people are not looking forward to Trump taking office.
We just had our first big snow.
Some people were looking forward to that.
Other people right now are currently looking forward
to summer, you know?
But something else that goes hand in hand
with looking forward and with
with expect, or is expectations.
Typically when you look forward to an event,
it's because you have some level of expectation
for what's gonna occur.
And so you have some sort of expectation
of how it's gonna go.
And we just had Christmas.
And is there any Christmas lovers in here?
Anybody love Christmas?
Is anybody looking forward to Christmas?
Right?
Yeah, we just had it.
But some people are looking forward to Christmas right now.
My wife, she loves Christmas
and she can't wait till October
when she gets to play her Christmas music again.
And yeah, I said October.
So yes, pray for me on that one.
But what kind of things do you,
what kind of expectations do you have for next Christmas?
I would say like, typically people are gonna think,
you know, joy, good food, family.
Is there any other expectations
you guys are looking forward to Christmas?
Life? Yeah.
You'd expect to be alive for next Christmas.
That's good.
God willing, right?
I hope to be too.
Does anybody look forward to gifts?
You look forward to gifts?
Yeah.
Have you guys ever looked forward to a gift
for Christmas and then you didn't get it?
One year I wanted a BB gun.
And yeah, exactly.
And that's probably,
well, I'm not gonna spoil the story,
but my parents got me this gift
and they're like, you can't open this gift
until the very last gift.
And it's a tall box, probably this tall, thin.
And I'm like, it's a rifle.
I got a BB gun.
And so I'm so excited waiting for this gift.
And we get to the last present.
And all my other presents were good,
but the BB gun was what I wanted, right?
And so I open it up and it's a pooper scooper.
That was the worst gift I think I've ever gotten.
We had gotten a dog earlier that year.
And so I thought I was gonna get this fun,
like you'll shoot your eye out,
like BB gun is gonna be a great time,
but I got something that was my responsibility.
So that's kind of beside the point,
but I thought it was a fun question to ask.
But again, today we're looking forward to Christmas
once again, or we're not looking forward to Christmas,
some people.
But we know exactly when Christmas is gonna come.
And so we can kind of relax about Christmas.
We can sit back and there's a few exceptionally wise people
who prepare for Christmas.
Maybe they bought the gifts already
or they're gonna go out with the post-Christmas sales
or they're budgeting.
Does anybody budget for Christmas?
Some people do.
Most of us, we're just chilling.
We're just, Christmas is on December 25th.
I know when it's gonna be here.
And as long as I'm ready, when Christmas comes,
we'll be good, right?
On that morning.
We don't really have to think about it
until next December, right?
A lot of people.
Let me ask you guys another question.
Are you guys expecting Christ's return this year?
You should be.
I'm not saying that he's coming back this year.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm just saying that he could.
Jesus is gonna return and he's gonna bring us into his kingdom
and are you ready for that?
Unlike Christmas, we know when Christmas is.
We don't know when Jesus is coming back.
But we know that he is coming back.
And I'm just thinking, man, could you imagine
if Christmas could just pop up on you guys at any moment?
Like you just wake up and your house is full of people
and they all expect you to have gifts ready for them
and they expect a meal and all this stuff.
They expect the tree to be up
and you have all that just pop up on you in a moment.
You would have to be ready literally all year round
for Christmas because the expectation of it,
you would have to be ready, right?
And similarly, Jesus is coming back at any moment
and we need to be ready for that.
And we need to be like that few diligent people
about Christmas who are prepared when,
they're prepared before it comes
so that when it gets there, they don't have to worry.
And so we need to be looking forward
to Jesus second coming with expectation.
And so like I said, we'll be in Matthew 24 today.
And just a little bit of context.
We're picking up at the end of Jesus' ministry.
We're picking up at the famous Olivet discourse.
And Jesus right before where we're picking up
has basically been recognized by all of his disciples
as the Messiah.
He had his triumphal entry.
He had went into the temple and flipped the tables
and called it a den of thieves.
And he went head to head with the religious leaders.
He called them hypocrites.
He was stomping them over and over again
with the knowledge of God.
And he called, like I said,
they called them hypocrites in front of everybody.
And he's preaching Christ to the masses in front of them.
And he's telling them, those people over there,
they love to be called master and teacher,
but there's one master and it's Christ.
And this is in Matthew 23, seven through 12.
And then he says, you have one master and it's Christ.
And so in essence, what he's saying is,
you need to follow Christ.
And of course, everyone who had been paying attention
to this time and his disciples specifically know that
by implication, he's saying, you need to follow me.
You need to follow Jesus.
And the people at the time, they're ready to follow Christ
because the people at the time,
the average Jewish person at the time,
they had the mindset of expecting
or at least yearning for Christ
because they had been subjects to other nations
for over 500 years.
There's been a little gap where they had some independence,
but they for the most part had been subject
to the occupation of other nations.
And they then recently had King Herod,
who was kind of crazy.
I don't know if you guys remember this,
but he killed all the babies in Bethlehem
because he was scared that Jesus was gonna take over.
Right, and then we also know from history
and Pastor Miles preaching a few weeks ago
that he even killed a wife of his own
and he killed some of his own sons
because he was scared that they were gonna usurp him.
And so they had to deal with that.
And now they're under Roman occupation
and let's just say that they don't exactly
like Roman occupation.
And so the people are hungry for the Messiah,
for the King that's like David,
whom God had prophesied to them throughout the years
over the thousands of years through the laws and the prophets,
the King who's gonna deliver them from their enemies
and establish their land and give them the fullness
of all the promises that he had given the people.
And that's what they want, that's what they're hungry for.
And they're kind of expecting it at this time
because recently they had John the Baptist come
and he said, he's proclaiming that the kingdom of God
is at hand, he's saying that he's preparing the way
of the Lord and then Jesus comes and he goes,
hey, there's the Lamb of God, right?
And so the people are desperate,
they're ready for the Messiah,
but they're not really expecting the Messiah they got.
They're not really expecting the Messiah to do what he did
and what we know Jesus did.
And so that's where we're picking up
right after this altercation at the temple
with the religious leaders.
Jesus is leaving the temple with his disciples.
The tensions are high, adrenaline I imagine with the disciples
and with the people in the area is high
and because of this interaction.
And have you guys ever had to set anybody straight?
I know Marie has, she set me straight the other day,
I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.
But have you ever had to set anybody straight?
When you set somebody straight, your blood is pumping,
your adrenaline's high and that's kind of how I imagine
the situation, at least from the disciples.
And you got like, Jesus had just set the religious leader
straight and the disciples are like behind them,
like hyping them up.
Have you ever been with a group of your friends
when you were like in an argument
and his friends are like behind them hyping them up
and I can imagine that's like the scene.
They're behind them and they're like, yeah,
yeah you render under Caesar, punk, you know.
They're getting at the religious leaders,
sticking their tongue out and Jesus is like,
hey guys, cool it, you know.
But as they leave, they're like bumping Jesus,
they're messing up his hair, they're like, that was awesome.
And they see the temple and this is just how I imagine it.
I don't know if this is necessarily the case,
but they look at the temple and they say to Jesus,
basically look at how amazing this place is
and they're kind of thinking in their heads like,
this is ours, like I know Jesus is the Messiah
and I know that he's gonna rule and reign here
and I'm gonna kind of benefit from my relationship
with Jesus in that way.
And I kind of think that's what they're thinking
when they say that, cause we already know
that they had already been arguing about
who's gonna be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven
and stuff like that over the years or over his ministry.
And Jesus goes to them and he responds in Matthew 24 verse
2, he says,
seeing not all these things, talking about the temple,
verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here
one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.
And so this must have like blown their minds
that the temple was gonna be destroyed.
And I don't know, I know you guys have probably
had your mind blown before, you're like, that's crazy.
Somebody once told me Kobe Bryant was not a top 10 NBA player
and that blew my mind.
I was like pulling my hair, I was like,
what are you talking about?
You know, I imagine that's kind of how they felt
when he said the temple is gonna be destroyed.
One time Gabby called me and she's like, what are you doing?
And I said, well, I'm cleaning the house.
And she said, talk about your mind blown, right?
I'm just kidding, that never happened.
But they're expecting their guy,
they're expecting their Messiah is going to rule
and reign in that temple.
And especially after they had this interaction
with the Jewish leaders and they're expecting that.
And Jesus says, yeah, the temple that was just built
recently is gonna be destroyed.
And this sparks some questions.
And so in verse three, we see the two questions
that they ask him.
We'll read that, it says,
and he sat upon the Mount of Olives,
the disciples, as he sat upon the Mount of Olives,
the disciples came unto him privately saying,
tell us when shall these things be
and what shall be the sign of thy coming
and of the end of the world?
So they asked him two questions,
when can we expect these things?
When will the temple be torn down?
And what is the sign of your coming?
Or what is the sign of your arrival?
When are you gonna come into your own?
Basically what they're asking him is,
when are you gonna take the throne?
When are you gonna tear down?
When is the temple gonna be torn down?
And when are you gonna take the throne, son of David?
And subsequently, as a result of him taking the throne,
when is the world as we know it gonna be,
when is the end of the world as we know it?
Because they know and they expect him
to set everything straight, to,
they expect a whole new world for him
to establish his kingdom.
There's gonna be no sin, no death, no tears for his people
and Israel's gonna see every promise
that God ever made to them come true.
That's what they're expecting.
And for the disciples in Jesus' day,
that meant no more Roman occupation
that the established kingdom of God
was gonna be in Jerusalem.
And they're kind of expecting that tomorrow
because here's Jesus, here's the temple,
he just set the leaders of the temple straight.
So when is that gonna happen?
And we know the answer to the first question
when the temple got destroyed,
about 40 years later the temple was torn down,
but when is Jesus gonna take his throne?
And we don't necessarily know when that's gonna happen.
He gave, he did answer their question,
but he doesn't say mark your calendars,
set your alarm clock, here's when it's gonna happen.
He goes through a list of signs
and Pastor Ben talked about all of these signs recently,
but he goes through this list of signs
and he says, when you see all of these things,
then you can expect that I'll take my throne.
Then you can, then that's when I'm gonna take my throne.
And he goes through, he says the end will be like this,
there's gonna be birth pains,
there's gonna be deceptions, false Christ,
wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, plagues,
all of that stuff.
And that's just the beginning, right?
That's just the first half essentially.
And then the abomination of desolation
is gonna take place in the covenant
that the Antichrist had made with.
Israel's gonna be broken by some sacrilegious act
in the temple and then you're gonna see
the great tribulation, right?
And that's gonna be the worst three and a half years
in all of history.
And then after all of that, after those seven years,
then Jesus is gonna be coming.
Then Jesus is coming and immediately
he's gonna come like lightning
and he's gonna come down from the clouds in power
and great glory and he's gonna establish his millennial kingdom
there.
And that's gonna be amazing, right?
That is gonna be amazing.
But they're gonna have to wait for all of that stuff
to happen before they see Jesus come and take his throne.
And so we know a few days after Jesus said that,
he died and then three days later, he rose from the dead.
And then 40 days after that, he ascended into heaven.
And so those disciples that were there,
they didn't get to see Jesus come and set up his kingdom
on earth in their lifetime.
But they did teach his followers that they should expect
that to happen at any moment really.
And they did that throughout the New Testament.
So Jesus is coming back.
We can expect that.
I don't know when he's coming back exactly,
but we're gonna read about three analogies
that Jesus gives his disciples after he told them
that he's coming back.
And they're gonna show us some very valuable truths.
So this is the objective today.
Jesus will return and establish his kingdom
and everyone can be ready for the second coming of Christ
by understanding these three analogies.
So we're gonna look at analogy number one,
which is the fig tree.
And that's gonna be in Matthew 24 verse 32,
through 35.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree.
When his branches get tender, he put it forth leaves.
You know that the summer is not.
So likewise, when ye shall see all these things,
know that it is near, even at the doors.
Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass
till all these things be fulfilled.
Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my word shall not pass away.
And so what he's really saying is,
we can be ready for the second coming
by using some discernment.
Have you guys ever heard the saying, read the room?
Just look at the way the world's playing out.
Even people the furthest from God can see
or a lot of them believe that the end is near.
And you know, God bless people like Elon Musk,
who aspire to give us a few more years,
few more good years, you know.
But the future of humanity is pretty grim.
We can expect broken families.
We can expect wars and rumors of wars.
We can expect tyranny and sickness and death.
And we can expect trouble in Israel.
And you know what, we're already seeing
a lot of those things happen.
But you know what we can't expect?
The Browns to win the Super Bowl.
No offense.
If we had to wait for the Browns to win the Super Bowl,
I don't know if we would make it.
But Jesus tells his disciples that by using discernment,
they can see that the branch is tender.
They can see that the leaves are sprung forth
and they can know that the summer is nigh,
that Jesus is coming back.
And in context, he's talking to a Jewish audience
about the tribulation time.
And he had went through all these signs
and he's telling them, when you see the birth pains,
when you see the abomination of desolation
and you see the great tribulation,
then you'll know that the day of judgment's coming.
Then you'll know that the return of your king is coming.
I'm coming to take my throne.
And today, we believe that the return of Jesus is imminent.
Amen, it could happen at any moment.
But that's, we're waiting on a different coming.
We're waiting on when believers are caught up in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the year.
That's what we're waiting on today.
And that's gonna be so amazing.
But the disciples at this moment in time,
what they're asking him about is something else.
They're asking him, when are you gonna take your throne?
And so Jesus responds and he says,
when you see these things, then you'll know I'm coming
and it's gonna be quick.
It's gonna be in a flash.
This generation won't pass, right?
It says this generation shall not pass.
Those who are alive at the time of the tribulation
are gonna be the same generation
that's gonna see his return.
It's gonna be quick.
And he says in Matthew 24, 25,
heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away.
So what is he saying there?
He's saying if Jesus said it, you can count on it.
And he came the first time, didn't he?
God made all these prophecies about him
and he came the first time and he fulfilled 300
plus over 300 prophecies.
And then he died and rose from the dead.
And if that weren't true, none of us would be here today.
But he has us convinced at least,
most of us convinced at least,
that he is the Son of God.
And so when he says these kind of things,
like those disciples, we can trust those,
we can trust him, that those things are gonna come true.
And we know that Jesus left this promise,
his promise of his return, and the signs.
And if we use discernment, we can know
that the second coming is near.
If the second coming is near, we can know that,
man, the rapture is even near, right?
And then that's amazing and we can prepare for it.
And so just read the room.
We're not in the birth pains yet.
The wheels are turning, the world seems to be trending
in that direction in a lot of ways.
And every day that passes is one day closer.
And if you know him, that's a great thing.
The world, the best day on this world
doesn't compare to life in his presence.
But if you don't know him, if you don't know Jesus,
you're gonna wanna know him before the leaves spring forth.
Right?
You're gonna wanna know him before the tribulation time.
And you're definitely gonna wanna know him
before he comes back and establishes his kingdom.
But that's the fig tree, the analogy of the fig tree,
the parable of the fig tree.
Those who experience the birth pains,
the abomination desolation, the great tribulation,
they're gonna know with absolute certainty
that Jesus is coming back and they better get ready.
And so that's the first analogy.
The second analogy he gives us,
it gives his disciples about his second coming
is the days of Noah.
So we're gonna pick up in verse 36.
But of that day and hour, no man knoweth.
No, not the angels of heaven, but my father only.
But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be
for as in those days, for as in the days
that were before the flood,
they were eating and drinking and marrying
and giving in marriage until the day of Noah,
until the day Noah entered into the ark.
And he knew not until the flood came and took them away.
And knew not until the flood came and took them away.
So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
So with some discernment, we can know that Jesus is coming.
But we can't know the exact date,
we can't know the exact time.
Nobody can predict it.
When it happens, it's gonna catch everybody off guard
that's not actively waiting for Jesus.
Another verse says it's gonna come like a flash of lightning
to those who aren't expecting it.
Is anybody scared of lightning?
I am not gonna lie, I'm terrified of lightning.
There's no shame in that.
It's okay, it can kill you.
But it's gonna come quickly
and it's gonna be dreadful for some.
And Jesus says that his second coming
will be like the days of Noah.
What do we know about the days of Noah?
Genesis 6, 5, it says,
and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth
in that every imagination,
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.
And then God saw that and then he judged the earth
and only Noah and his family made it out.
Does that kind of sound like the world today?
Maybe, maybe a little.
But the wickedness is not what this passage is pointing at
as the similarity.
It says the people were eating and drinking
and getting married and giving in marriage
right up into the last second.
And that's how it will be when Jesus comes back.
They're gonna be at their wedding
and they're gonna be like drinking their champagne
or whatever, toasting and then,
where are you guys going on your honeymoon?
And then Jesus is coming back
and hopefully they're not going to the lake of fire.
That won't be a good honeymoon.
But the Bible lists every day kind of things
is what they're gonna be doing.
It's not, the comparison isn't the wickedness.
It's gonna be taking away of the people unexpectedly.
They're not gonna be ready for it.
They're not gonna be prepared for it.
And the only person that, or in the days of Noah,
he was the only person who was expecting it.
The point of the analogy is that no one really
is gonna be expecting it.
The only person that's gonna be expecting it
is the one that is watching for Noah.
Noah and his, or sorry, is watching for God to return.
Noah and his family were the only ones
to survive the great flood.
But the rest of the people,
they were busy just going about their lives.
They were busy just doing whatever they were doing,
ignoring the signs, right?
They, you think anybody was like, why is Noah
building a boat as big as the whole neighborhood?
Man, he's just crazy, right?
The people in the tribulation,
they're gonna have to ignore even greater signs than that.
They're gonna have to say, man,
why are Christians being killed on the spot?
Why is crazy stuff happening in Jerusalem?
Oh man, the world leader turned on Israel, that's weird.
But they're gonna have to ignore that, and many will.
But those who are ready, like Noah,
who see those signs, who know the word of God,
and who are waiting on the Lord to descend on the clouds,
they'll be ready, they won't be caught off guard.
And so we see, in this passage,
we see a warning of judgment, of unpredictability,
of preoccupation with worldly concerns.
But we know that Noah was ready
because he obeyed God's command,
he built the ark, and he demonstrated faith
by preparing for that flood.
And so we can do the same today
as we wait on Christ's return.
Titus 2, 12 through 13, it says,
teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in the present world, looking for that blessed hope,
and for the glorious appearing of the great God
and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
And so, though no man can know the day or the hour,
though it can't be predicted,
we don't have to be caught off guard by Jesus coming,
we can be looking forward to it
with the expectation of his return.
And so that is the second analogy,
the third analogy that we're gonna look at today
that can help a person be ready for Jesus' return
is the ones taken.
And so we're gonna pick up in Matthew 24, verse 40.
And it says,
then two shall be in the field
and the one shall be taken and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at the mill
and the one taken and the other left.
Watch therefore for ye know not the hour,
or ye know not the what hour your Lord doth come.
But know this, that if the good man of the house
had known in what watch the thief would come,
he would have watched
and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Therefore, be ye also ready in such an hour
as ye think not the Son of Man coming.
And so think back to the context.
Remember, all this, it stemmed from the disciples
asking Jesus, when are you gonna establish your kingdom?
And so I don't see any indication
that what Jesus is talking about has changed.
It's still in the same context.
And he gave them that list of signs.
He told them to use discernment
and they'll have a good idea when it was.
He told them no man knows exactly when,
but they have these clues
and now he's really given them the application of all this.
Jesus is coming to establish his kingdom.
And so believers, they need to watch and be ready
because it's gonna come out of nowhere.
But a lot of people see this as a rapture verse.
I don't necessarily see this as a rapture verse,
but I do believe the same is true about the rapture.
It can happen at any given moment.
And though there are signs, clear signs of the timing
that people can look to,
Jesus is emphasizing that the second coming
is gonna be unexpected.
You're gonna be caught off guard.
And I don't know, has anybody ever been to the hospital
for like a baby delivery?
We have three kids.
And when you're at the hospital,
they kind of like move at their own pace.
They don't always, you know, tell you what's going on.
And like I said, we have three kids
and no birthing experience has been the same.
And so the first time we went,
we waited about seven hours before the show got started.
And so we're just hanging out, you know,
we're locked in, we're ready to go.
And we don't know what's going on.
We're just waiting.
And then all of a sudden, seven hours later,
somebody comes in and everything gets rolling.
And, you know, nurses were in and out regularly,
but the communication wasn't that great.
We didn't really know.
But the second time with Angela, we got there,
it seemed like we had just gotten there.
And they are doing their thing, you know, over there.
And I'm sitting and I'm watching some commercials
and I'm eating a cookie.
And you guys ever seen that Chili's commercial
for the baby back ribs?
Chili's baby back ribs, you know?
You'll understand why this is seared into my brain
in a second.
So I'm sitting there eating this cookie
and watching this commercial.
And all of a sudden I hear Gabby put that cookie down
and get over here.
We're having a baby.
And I dropped the cookie, I was so sad,
but I was happy at the same time, you know?
Amen, we're having a baby.
But that was a good cookie, man.
But I thought the wrath of Gabby was bad.
I don't want to see the wrath of God.
And I don't want to be,
you don't want to be caught off guard by God.
You don't want to be caught off guard by God's second,
by Jesus' second coming.
You don't want to see that wrath.
And so Jesus says, watch therefore and be also ready.
That's what he says.
And so in Matthew 40 through 41, it says,
then shall two be in the field
and one shall be taken and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at the mill
and one shall be taken and the other left.
And again, like I said,
some read this as a rapture verse
and I'm open to correction,
but in context of everything that Jesus has said,
it seems like he's still talking about the second coming.
When the Lord returns to judge his creation
and those who are taken,
it seems like, or sorry, those who are taken
are those who will not be present in the Millennial Kingdom.
I think the key for this lies in the comparison to Noah.
So if you go to the next slide,
if you read in verse 39, it says,
and knew not until the flood came and took away,
or took them away, sorry,
and knew not until the flood came and took them away,
so shall the coming of the Son of Man be,
then two shall be in the field
and one taken and another left
and two women shall be grinding at the mill
and one taken and another left.
It says it's gonna be as the days of Noah.
The second coming is gonna be like the flood of Noah.
And we know that the second,
or that the flood of Noah,
it took away all the wicked from the earth, right?
That's what it did.
And so the only thing that's gonna leave behind
is the faithful.
And those people at the second coming
will enter into the Millennial Kingdom.
This is the parable of the sheeps and goats
which Jesus talks about in just a chapter,
but in the same exact conversation,
he talks about this towards the end of the conversation.
And that's in Matthew 25, verse 31 through 32.
Jesus says,
when the Son of Man shall come in his glory
and all his holy angels with him,
then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory
and before him shall be gathered all the nations
and he shall separate them one from another
as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats.
And it goes on to,
or they asked him, Jesus, when is this gonna happen?
And he tells them, he tells them when earlier,
and now he's telling them what's gonna happen.
Those who live faithfully while they waited on Christ,
they're gonna spend eternity with Christ.
And those who didn't wait faithfully,
they're gonna spend eternity separated
in every lasting punishment.
But either way, I believe the application is the same.
For those who are, who see this as waiting on Christ's
return and for those who see this as waiting on Christ
to meet them in the crowds,
I see the application is the same way.
It's watch and be ready.
Live in expectation of the Lord's coming.
It's gonna come like a thief in the night
and it's gonna come when you least expect it.
And you don't wanna be caught off guard.
No matter your view on this,
someday each and every one of us
is gonna come face to face with Jesus.
And when that happens, there's little importance
to your finances, the details of your finances,
your car repair, how your sports team is faring,
or any of the other little things,
the other temporary things that we allow to distract us.
Those things are of little importance
when it comes to Jesus coming back.
And so today, we have to be diligent.
We have to stay alert, we have to watch,
we have to pray and live our lives with a holy expectation
that in such an hour, as you think not,
the Son of Man coming.
We don't know when it's gonna happen, but he's coming.
And so in application, Jesus will return
to establish His kingdom.
It's going to happen and everyone can be ready
for His second coming by understanding
these three analogies, the fig tree, the days of Noah,
and the ones taken.
And so how does this apply to us?
Let me ask you guys a question.
How would you live differently today
if you knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow?
I think that's a good place of application.
That's a good place to start, at least.
You don't have to wait until you know
that the world is ending.
You can know Jesus today.
You can live for Jesus today.
And I believe that that's the point
of what he's telling his disciples.
They ask, when are you taking your throne?
And he says, essentially, no man knows
when I'm taking my throne, but you need to be ready.
Disciples, you need to be ready.
So you don't have to, so if you don't know Jesus today,
you can call on Him right now.
And if you're sincere, He will save you, right?
John 11, 25 through 26, it says,
I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die.
Believous thou this.
You can be as sure of your salvation
as you are that Jesus is gonna return.
And if you put your faith and trust in Him today.
And so as believers, though, if you have,
the next thing we're waiting on is the rapture.
And whether we die or we're raptured,
or somehow you end up in the tribulation
and you're waiting on Christ,
the application is the same.
Be ready.
And so we're gonna read one more analogy.
And it's literally the next thing that Jesus says
in Matthew 24 to his disciples.
It says in 24, 45, it says,
Who then is a faithful and wise servant
whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household
to give them me in due season?
Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh,
shall find so doing.
Jesus didn't give us these analogies
to debate over necessarily,
but he gave them to us to encourage us
and to activate our faith to accomplish his mission.
There's no greater work.
There's no greater concern in this world
than that we be about God's work, about his business.
And we don't know how much time that we have left.
He could come back today.
And so we need to be diligent
about his business.
So let's pray that we're ready when he comes,
but that today and tomorrow and every day until then
that we're living faithfully,
doing what he has left for us to do,
reaching the lost and edifying the saints
and loving one another.
Let's pray that we're doing that.
And then we're gonna go into a time of prayer.
Let's pray.
Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to come together
and allowing us to dive into your word
and to see that, man, you could come back at any moment
and we ought to be diligent about what you're asking us to do.
There's been times in my life where I've thought, man,
I know that when Jesus comes back,
everything's gonna be better.
Everything's gonna be amazing.
But if he were to come back right now, I'd be ashamed.
And I'm sure everybody else in here
has felt that way at some point.
And we don't wanna feel that way.
We wanna feel like, man,
God, we're living for you and we're doing what you had to do
and we're excited for you to come back
because it's gonna be a glorious day.
And even if we felt that way,
we know that when we die,
we're gonna go to heaven and our sins are forgiven.
And so that's amazing, Lord.
But I just pray that as we live out,
however many days we get to live out,
that we could do it in such a way that glorifies you
and that builds up the body for your glory.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.