Sermon Transcript

00:05.19

Well, classified information is a very important part of the national security apparatus in Washington, D.C. We all understand that, especially those of you who are in the military. But these days, sadly, far too many times we hear about somebody in the news who was entrusted with top secret information, and they leaked that information. When that happens, the strong arm of the United States law falls upon that person, or at least it should. If you have any doubts about that, just ask Edward Snowden or Google him a bit. The US government takes very serious it’s classified information, its top-secret information.

00:56.25

Well, the God of the Bible is a keeper of secrets. Did you know that? the Bible say sin Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God.” There are some things that God has classified. Some things that only God the Father knows. He is a keeper of secret. He is a God of mystery. I wrote a book several years ago titled Mysteries of the Afterlife. I took the time to explore from Genesis all the way to the book of Revelation how, through the unfolding and the progress of Revelation in the pages of scripture, the God of mysteries and the God of secrets began unfolding, giving us glimpses into the afterlife. He told us everything we need to know about the afterlife, but not everything we want to know. But enough information. Some of it is still classified, I suppose.

0:01:50.2

Perhaps the most closely guarded secret in heaven is when the second coming of Jesus Christ will happen. Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, "But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven," He says, "nor the son, but the Father only." And for that reason and based upon that scripture, it is pure foolishness for anybody to set a date where they say, "I know the day and the hour of Jesus's return because I've dived deeply into the scriptures, those secret places in the Hebrew and Greek language that nobody else has figured out. And I know the day and the hour." Hogwash. Those people have not read Matthew 24:36 where Jesus says no human being knows the day or the hour.

0:02:57.8

He goes on to say, "Not even the angels of heaven know." Now, let that sink in for a moment. I've titled this morning's message, "What Angels Wish They Knew." I’m curious as to whether or not they're as curious about the second coming, the day and the hour, as we are as human beings. According to Isaiah 6, angels constantly surround God's throne, and yet they don't know the day or the hour of Jesus's return. In Matthew 18, Jesus said the angels "always see the face of My Father," a description of their intimate proximity to God the Father. And yet their intimacy with the Almighty gains them no access to this top-secret information.

0:03:42.8

The angels announced the birth of Jesus, His first advent. They were the advance team who brought the news to the shepherds. We read about that Luke 2. They will also be the agents of judgement at the second coming of Christ. They will blow the trumpet of God, as it were, but yet they are not trusted with the knowledge of when that prophetic event will take place. Only God the Father knows that.

0:04:10.4

I'm just a little bit curious. I love to imagine some things in the white spaces of the Bible. Are the angels of heaven as curious about the day and the hour of Jesus's return as we are as human beings? I wonder if they discuss it around the heavenly water cooler. I wonder if during choir practice they're whispering to one another, "Do you know the day? Do you know the hour?" When they hear the trumpet and heaven's orchestra, do their wings flutter a bit, wondering if that's the time? Are they curious about it?

0:04:41.5

1 Peter 1:12 tells us that the angels look with curiosity into our salvation experience, the salvation that comes to us by grace and through faith alone. Angels don't have that kind of experience with God. And Peter tells us they look into these things with curiosity. I wonder if they are equally curious about the day or the hour of Jesus's return.

0:05:11.5

Again, I say if anybody tells you that he knows when Jesus is coming again, He is a false prophet. Worse than that, He makes Jesus a liar because Jesus said that nobody knows, the angels don't know. He went one step further, and He said that not even the Son of Man knows the day or the hour of His return.

0:05:37.3

Now, let's think about that as well. Some people have difficulty with the idea that Jesus said, "I don't even know the day or the hour of My return." It classified information, top-secret information that only the Father in heaven knows. Some people say, "I don't understand that. How can Jesus be God and not know? Isn't God omniscient? Doesn't He know all things?" Well, the simple answer to that is that, while Jesus was the incarnate Son of God on this earth, according to Philippians 2, He intentionally divested Himself of some of His divine attributes. In theology that's known as the kenosis. Read about it again in Philippians 2. But, of course, everything changed after the resurrection. I believe that was the time when Jesus in His glorified body knew exactly what the Father knew. But it was correct for Him to say. Prior to His crucifixion and resurrection as He came out of the grave with His glorified body, it was correct for Him to say, "I don't even know at this time." He just laid aside His divine prerogative at that moment.

0:06:51.1

As Jesus traveled from place to place in His glorified body, I think He knew, but He withheld that information from the disciples for good reasons. Because date-setting undermines a sense of urgency, does it not, about the second coming. You know, if you knew the day or the hour that Jesus was going to come, if you knew that it was six years from now, 24 days and 15 hours…you knew the exact time, what would you do between now and then? You'd probably party it up until just before the time, right? It takes away that sense of urgency. We talk about the imminent return to Jesus. It could happen at any time. Like a thief in the night is the description about the second coming. In the twinkling of an eye is the description about the rapture of the church. And so, the Father graciously withholds this classified information we might call it, this top-secret information, so that we will choose, as Paul says in his letter to Titus, to "live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age." As long as His return is at the door, as long as it is imminent, we'll keep our hand on the doorknob, right? Always watching, always waiting, always working, always praying "Even so, come, Lord Jesus," always loving His appearing and eagerly anticipating it, always setting our face toward the mission that God has given us as a church and as believers in Jesus Christ, knowing that He could come at any time, at any day, at any hour. We live our lives not in a complacent kind of way and a cavalier kind of way, but in a way that we're always mission ready. And we're looking for His return.

0:08:45.3

Second coming date-setters…mark it down; they're always wrong. And they're foolish. They just look like fools. I'm old enough to remember all of the hullabaloo around the year 1988. I know some of you weren't even born at that time, perhaps, but 1988 was the 40^th anniversary of Israel returning to their land and becoming a nation. Modern Israel became a nation in 1948. Forty years later in 1988, oh my, all the prophetic whack jobs out there just thought, this is it. This is the time. In fact, one of them named Edgar Whisenant wrote a book…I'm not kidding you here. I'm not making this up…titled 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. He sold 4.5 million copies just in the United States alone, and many more in foreign markets. When Jesus did not return in 1988, you know what Edward Whisenant did? He wrote a sequel in 1989. He said, "Oh, I looked at my calculations again. I was off by just that much." And he sold a ton more books. And when Jesus didn't return in 1989, Edward Whisenant disappeared with his millions in book royalties. He was a fraud. All he had to do was read the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:34 and realize nobody knows. This is classified information, and the Father ain't a leaker. He's not a leaker.

0:10:36.4

Because nobody knows the day or the hour of Christ's return but the Father, Jesus pointedly says in verse 44, "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." And He goes in verse 37 through the end of chapter 24 in your Bible, and He talks about some of the characteristics of this day. From this what emerged in my heart were what I want to call three dangerous attitudes that we can have about the second coming of Jesus Christ. Attitudes that might be an indication we're not in that ready position. We may think we are, but we're not.

0:11:19.6

The first dangerous attitude says this- "I'm just too busy. I'm too busy to give a second thought to the second coming of Jesus Christ." Let's pick it up in Matthew 24:37 when Jesus says these words- " For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."

0:12:02.8

Now, Jesus does an interesting thing here. He says that the coming of Son of Man, His second coming when He returns, will be like the days of Noah. Here is Jesus on the Mount of Olives talking with four His disciples—remember, Peter, James, John, and Andrew—about matters relating to the end of the age. They are saying, "Jesus, what are the signs to look for?" He's talking about things happening at the end, but He takes them all the way back to the beginning.

0:12:30.9 

What does the beginning…or nearly the beginning in the book of beginnings, the book of Genesis…what does the beginning have to do with the end? Well, He says, "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days just prior to the coming of the Son of Man." What do we know about the days of Noah? Well, Genesis 6:5 says, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Back in the beginning or near the beginning, God looked down on planet earth, and He saw the wickedness of the human heart spun out in so many different ways. And He brought judgement upon the earth in the form of a worldwide flood. Only Noah and his family were preserved. And then He started over from there. He promised with a rainbow never to destroy the earth again with water. He said nothing about fire or other things, but with water He would not destroy. And here we are today.

0:13:35.3

Now, one could argue that we are living in times just like that. The sick human heart is not getting better, but worse. Mankind is devising new ways to live out the evil intention of the human heart. But I don't think that's exactly what Jesus was talking about here when He said it'll be like in the days of Noah. I think what He was talking about was that they were just busy living their lives. They were marrying and giving in marriage. They were eating and drinking. They were raising their kids, getting them ready for online school. Just all the ordinary things of life. They were busy, busy, busy doing. They were too busy to give a second thought to this whack job over here named Noah, who was building a boat. It took him 120 years to build the ark. The Bible in book of Peter refers to Noah as "a herald of righteousness." Every strike of the hammer against the nail or however he built that massive football-size field ark was a sermon. It was a sermon with an object lesson, this boat. And people in the business of life might have glanced Noah. They might have even had a brief conversation with him. "Who is this guy over here that's talking about the judgement of God coming? Come on, Noah. There isn't a drop of water anywhere near this place." And year after year and decade after decade went past. And people mocked him and ridiculed him. But Noah and his family stayed true to the mission and believed God that they were going to need the escape hatch known as the ark. The business of their lives took priority. The ordinary things of life had seized their attention, and they didn't have time to talk to Noah any more than people today say, "Do I have time to waste myself on prophetic things like the second coming of Jesus Christ?"

0:15:50.4

You know, it concerns me as a pastor, as a ministry leader, that fewer and fewer pastors and theologians even talk about this in the pulpit. Because the itching ears of our day are saying, "Just give me something that is practical and relevant to my everyday life. I'm just trying to raise my kids. I'm trying to go to work tomorrow morning. Come on, Preacher, feed me something I can use tomorrow morning in the 9-5 hours." And in the business of our life we lose the sense or urgency about the second coming of Jesus.

0:16:31.0

I find it interesting…before I leave this first dangerous attitude…that, again, Jesus would go back and link the most talked-about event in Bible prophecy, His second coming—more than even His first coming—but the most talked-about event in Bible prophecy, His second coming, that He would link it to an old, old story like the story of Noah. He goes all the way back to the beginning. And yet, the story of Noah is one of the most mocked and one of the most maligned stories even today. People just scoff at the idea of a worldwide flood. But it's also interesting if you think about. Jesus linked another key event in Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to an old story that's mocked, the story of Jonah.

0:17:26.8

Remember when Jesus said, "The Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth, just like Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish"? Why would Jesus risk the credibility of such a keystone event in Christianity to a story about some guy who got swallowed by a fish in the Old Testament? I just find it ironic that two of the most maligned stories in the Bible are linked to two of the most key events in Christianity- the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His promised return. But some people say, "I'm too busy for that. Too busy with my life to give a second thought to the second coming."

0:18:11.0

The second dangerous attitude that people might develop is to say, "This won't catch me by surprise. It won't surprise me." Jesus says otherwise. Verse 40, "Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore," He says, "stay awake." In other words, don't fall asleep. "For you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, (0:19:00.0) for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

0:19:06.5

Some people, "I'm too busy. I'm too busy to give a second thought to the second coming." Other people, "Yeah, I hear about it, but it won't take me by surprise." Jesus says no, it's going to surprise some, because the second coming is always described as happening like a thief in the night. When was the last time a thief made an appointment with you? Wouldn't we all like that? You get a phone call. "Hey, Bob, are you going to be around next Thursday at about 2:00 a.m.? Because that's when I'm coming to rob your house? Do you mind?" No, the thief never makes an appointment. A smart thief works with classified information. When he is coming to rob you only the thief knows. That's why we lock our doors. We close our windows at night. We put the alarm system on. In that alarm system (0:20:00.1) there is a ready mode, right? There is a ready button. Is your biblical and spiritual and prophetic alarm set? Are you ready? Have you alerted yourself and your family, or will it take you by surprise because you've grown complacent?

0:20:18.5

I heard one Bible teacher use the word cavalier. We've become so cavalier in our world today when it comes to these things. And that word stuck with me because we have a five-star resort here in Virginia Beach called The Cavalier. I wish I could afford to go there, you know. Five-star beautiful resort right there on the beach. It's been renovated. A beautiful place. You know what happens when you're at The Cavalier? You forget all the worries of life, right? You even forget whether you set the alarm at your house. It's so beautiful and so relaxing, you're not even thinking about that thief that's coming at 2:00 a.m. to rob your house. That's what happens when we become cavalier and complacent. Jesus says stay awake. He says, "You must be ready. Don't think it won't surprise you because I'm coming in a way that will be a surprise to most people. I'm coming like a thief in the night."

0:21:30.9

The third dangerous attitude that I wrote down in my study was this. I have plenty of time. I have plenty of time. Jesus goes on in verse 36, " Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." These are sobering words here. They're meant to maybe frighten us just a bit.

0:22:31.2

But Jesus talks about two types of people. One is the faithful servant. And He talks about the faithful servant in contrast to the unfaithful servant within kind of a storytelling motif that we often find in Jesus's parables where He says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a master who went away for awhile and entrusted his business or his wealth to his servants." The servants knew the master was gone, but he was coming back. But they didn't know the day or the hour. Jesus often told stories like that, and He draws upon that motif here. And He says, "Some when the master returns will be found faithful." He says, "Blessed is that servant who is master will find doing so when he comes." Doing what? Doing his master's work.

0:23:27.4

There is a stewardship lesson here, right? We've all been entrusted time and certain talents and money and treasure. It's important for us as believers to make that transition from an ownership mentality to a stewardship mentality. The time, the talent, the treasure and money that you possess, it doesn’t belong to us. It doesn't belong to me. I'm hopefully the faithful servant that is managing that trust on behalf of the master who is coming again. And there is an accountability. There is a reckoning there. "Will you be found faithful?" Jesus says. Some will, some won't. And the description of the unfaithful servant in this section of Matthew 24 here, we really have to conclude this person was never a believer in the first place. Maybe he or she gave the impression that they were. But when he is surprised by the master's return and thinks to himself, Oh, I've got plenty of time. My master has delayed. I've got plenty of time, rather than giving attention to the master's work and to the mission and the business of the master, he just lives a frivolous life. And he is surprised by the master's return. And here is the strong language. "The master will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth," language that is often used to describe those who are cast into eternal damnation and judgement, a place called hell. So you have to conclude this unfaithful servant who is caught by surprise, who lived as though he had plenty of time, was never a believer to begin with.

0:25:17.1

I'm reminded of parable or story that is told about a group of demons who had just finished their training in hell. And they were taking their final exam, an oral exam, just one question. They had to appear before Satan himself, and Satan would ask this question. "When you are released and you go to planet earth, how will you deceive the people who live there?" The first demon came forward, and he said, "Satan, I've been thinking about this for quite some time. Here is my plan. When I go to planet earth, I'm going to tell people God doesn't exit." And Satan says, "That's a pretty good one. That's been tried for many, many centuries and all that. But here's the problem. These people were created in the image of God, and they were hardwired with a God-awareness. We've been trying for centuries to get them to deny that, to suppress the truth as their Creator has revealed Himself. And we've had some success with that. You might have some success, but, you know, good luck for you."

0:26:20.8

The next demon came forward and said, "Satan, I've been thinking about the question, and here is my strategy. When I go to planet earth, I'm going to tell people hell does not exist." And again, Satan kind of shrugged his shoulders a bit, and he says, "Yeah, we've been trying that for many, many years, and we've been gaining some good ground on that. However, people generally kind of think some will go heaven, some will go to hell." The third demon came forward and said, "Satan, I've been thinking about this. I've been pondering. I think I know my strategy. When I go to planet earth, I'm going to tell people they have plenty of time. Plenty of time." And Satan looked at him and said, "You're going to be a successful demon."

0:27:05.1

See, it's a dangerous, dangerous way to think about the second coming of Christ and say, "I’m just too busy to give a second thought to this. I'm just knocking myself out earning a living, working 9-5, raising my kids, trying to get them ready for this online…I don't have time to think about this, Preacher." Or, you know, "This won't catch me by surprise. Don’t worry about that." But you've slipped into a place of complacency and a cavalier attitude. Or you say, "I've got plenty of time."

0:27:40.7

Peter wrote about those at the end of the age. He called them scoffers who would say, "Where is the promise of his coming? You know, these promises were centuries ago, thousands of years ago. And where is the promise?" And they say, "No, He isn't coming," or, "He's delayed," or, "We have plenty, plenty of time."

0:28:05.7

Jesus is just getting warmed up on this theme of "Get ready. Get yourself in the ready position." I love that in sports. My kids were NCAA athletes. One played college softball, another college basketball. My son, who is the basketball player, learned early on if you're on defense, you don't stand flatfooted. You stand like this, and that guy with the ball is going to dribble right around you. You get in the ready position. And there is something to learn there about us as believers in Jesus Christ to be in the ready position.

0:28:46.5

Some in the 1st century thought the ready position was quit your job, climb up to the top of the mountain, and just sit and wait for the coming of Jesus. Well, Paul writes to them and says, no, that's foolishness. You get ready by waiting, watching, working on behalf of the Master. Yes, living your life, doing the things that you've got to do, but always setting your affection on things above and not on things of the earth, loving the appearing of Jesus, eagerly expecting His soon return, understanding it's imminent. It could happen at any day and any hour. You stay in that mission-ready position. You're praying, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus," but if He doesn't come today you are busy about the Lord's work. The last thing you want to do is for Him to come and to find you in some kind of a complacent, cavalier, "I thought He wasn't coming today" kind of mode.

0:29:45.2 

Maybe, just maybe, it means you were never a real believer to begin with. The text seems to suggest that believers in Jesus Christ are full of that anticipation that Jesus is coming and are busy about the master's work until He comes, helping to get other people ready, being ready in season and out of season for those conversations, those opportunities to introduce people to faith in Jesus Christ- people that are too busy, people that are too cavalier and too complacent, people that think they have plenty of time no matter what the sense of urgency might be. You're there in season and out of season, ready to have those conversations with family and friends.

0:30:32.3 

We're busy about the Lord's business as a church, not just going home during this COVID things, crawling up under our bed, and wringing our hands until some government official tells us we can come out. We've got work to do, friends. Jesus is coming again, and there is a world that is spinning out of control and complacency and is thinking about anything but the soon and urgent return of Jesus Christ.

0:31:02.4

It's interesting. Back in verses 40-44 there is some language here that we need to clarify. Jesus says, " Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left." And some people say, "See, that's rapture language. That sounds like the rapture. The second coming and the rapture are the same event." And this is where very careful theologians like Dr. John Walvoord helps us parse this a little bit. He says, "At the rapture, the righteous will be taken, the unrighteous left behind." That's 1 Thessalonians 4. But at the second coming, if you read it carefully…and keep in mind, this is in light of Noah's story, Noah's prophecy. "Like in the days of Noah, at the second coming the unrighteous will be taken, swept away in judgement, while the righteous will be left behind to enter into the millennial kingdom." Slight nuance in the language here, but it helps clarify that two-step approach that we've talked about- the rapture happening in the twinkling of an eye. I call it the next event on God's prophetic calendar. It could happen today. There is nothing else that needs to align for the rapture. Then we know the timeline. Seven years of tribulation, the second coming of Christ. Nobody knows the exact day or the hour, but He'll come like a thief in the night.

0:32:43.6

We have work to do, friends, as believers in Jesus Christ to help other people get ready. That's the business of the church. To make disciples of Jesus Christ who go and make disciples with a mission readiness and a sense of urgency about us. And if you're here today in this room or watching online, and you’ve been one of those people that have never given stuff like this a second thought, you've never placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, today is the day of salvation. Noah preached for 120 years, "Rain is coming. Come aboard the ark. There is plenty of room." Nobody listened to him but his own family. And the judgement fell and swept away the unrighteous. That same warning is coming in scripture regarding the second coming of Jesus, and you'd be wise, any of us, to heed that warning and to heed it today.

0:33:48.9