The Fact of Christ's Return

Well, thank you so much for that beautiful music. Thy kingdom come, O Lord, we pray. I was just thinking, we've actually had three messages already today. The sermonette, of course, and then the offatory, and now the special music. So there's always a Bible study in the special music when Edna Penns and Burt Wright, they're a great team, and then you add Jacqueline, and it's a perfect moment. So thank you so much. It's wonderful to see Mrs. Bush, and she's here, and Mrs. Ward's back from being gone there. And so all of us who are here today, it is a wonderful day, an impactful day, the Day of Trumpets. And leading up to this great and awesome Holy Day, I don't know about you, but I've had in me a sense of urgency. It seems to just have been prevalent in my thinking and coming to this day, and there is a sense of urgency attached as we prepare for our Savior's return. So the title of our study today, The Fact of Christ's Return. The Fact of Christ's Return. And we'll begin by turning and opening up our Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, if you'll turn with me there. Luke chapter 12. We're going to be in reading in verse 35 through 40. Luke 12 verse 35 through 40. This passage, Luke 12 verse 35 through 40. This passage in which we will now turn our focus on. We will see the urgency as Jesus Christ now issues a call for readiness. A call to get ready for His return. A striking nature in this warning that we're going to see here today. The impact in which this passage will give as we anticipate the return of Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of this day of trumpets. So, Luke 12 again, verse 35 will begin. Christ speaks and says, "'Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning, and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks, they might open to him immediately.' Verse 37, "'Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Surely I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.'" Let's stop there. So, Luke chapter 12 here, when we come to this passage, what we come to, and we've said this before, we come to the discovery that the history of humanity is not as the Greeks believed, which was they believed it to be cyclical. Cyclical. The Greeks believed that men and women, in a sense, were on a treadmill. And it didn't matter if you were on this treadmill and walking casually or if you rushed furiously. One thing they knew for certain was that humanity was on this kind of treadmill and, in a sense, then going nowhere, going nowhere. And so, they simply went through their days going round and round, routinely experiencing over and over again similar events as history repeated itself. As far as they considered it, it would continue to repeat itself. In that notion, we know, it's not unique to the Greeks because contemporary culture, it has this idea as well, by and large, society lives its life with this same notion. Take a listen. You'll hear men and women speak and they'll say things like, this is all we have. This time we have now. Let's make the most of it.

Our youth say, you only live once. Yolo, they say. You only live once. I promised myself I wouldn't say that, that abbreviation, but I couldn't help it. And certain terminology like that points to the fact that when a man or a woman loses their connection with the beginnings of the world and lives in confusion as to the nature of the end of the world, they have nothing left but to seek to immerse themselves in the here and the now. Men and women, young people today, are growing up in a secular society without God, and therefore, by and large, have no knowledge of their origins as taught by Scripture. So for them, their existence is essentially matter plus time plus chance. That's the reality. And again, with that, if they know anything, they know that they're not going anywhere. So it's no small wonder that they decide to do so many things that they decide to do. And again, why is that so? Well, in part, once again, it's because the man or the woman is unhinged from the knowledge of where it all began, and therefore is disengaged from the reality of where it all went. That's why the doctrine of creation is such an important biblical doctrine. It's the doctrine of in the beginning God. That's an important doctrine. In the beginning God. You've got to think correctly regarding the beginning to know how it'll all end. It'll all end. And so what we find in this passage here in Luke 12 is the one, Jesus Christ, who was with God in the beginning, and he now teaches his followers of his return and how he will usher in the end. The end of the world as we know it. In other words, in contrast to the notion of history being cyclical, going round and round, the Bible says that history is linear. It has a definite beginning and will most certainly have a certain end.

The Bible says that one day human history is coming to an end. That life as we know it, this world as we know it, is coming to an end. And so when you today or tomorrow pick up your daily planner and you look at what you have planned for this upcoming week, realize that the coming of Jesus Christ is an event which is written across every page of your planner. In fact, it's written across every page of a humanities planner. The return of Jesus Christ is etched in every time schedule. The return of Jesus Christ will be an event in history, ultimately, for all men and women. And every one of us here this morning, whether we've acknowledged it, whether we've pushed it back into our minds, irregardless or regardless, there is a judgment coming. And while there is an order we know revealed in Scripture, each in his own order, the truth of the marvelous resurrections, we do know that everyone is moving toward an end time appointment with Jesus Christ.

And we need to emphasize what the Gospel writers emphasize, namely, the fact of his return, the fact of Christ's return. It's a fact. It's a reality. And that fact is more important than the question of when. The fact of his return, that fact, is more important than the question of when. It's even more important than the precise nature of the events which will accompany his return. Because the called believer's hope for the future is not in a timetable of events, nor is the hope of the future ultimately wrapped up in the details surrounding his return.

Rather, our hope is in the fact that he's coming. And that's a great reality. So exactly when or precisely how, though not unimportant, they are in the end secondary issues.

And we can never find ourselves making what is secondary primary or what is peripheral central. Those who find themselves tangled up in secondary issues maybe also find themselves disengaged from the emphasis that Jesus Christ brought over and over again in the scripture, and particularly here in Luke chapter 12. It is the fact of his return which is to drive everything else for the called believer. And it's even it's in fact that the certainty of the return of Jesus Christ in the uncertainty of when he will return, that is to drive us in how we wait for it. We know he's returning, that's certain, and the uncertainty of when he will return drives us in how we wait. It's those two things coupled together which drives our activity now. So therefore, we need to be watching, waiting, hoping, and looking for the reality of his return. That's the emphasis of this passage here. You see this emphasis very clearly. Verse 40 again, staying here in Luke 12, verse 40, there you therefore you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. That's the command. It's the command to be a call to readiness. Whereas I thought about this, you know, and you might relate to this as well.

If you think about this command, this call to readiness, and then you take a snapshot of our lives, our daily lives, most of us spend our lives preparing for events for so much less of significance, don't we? So much time and effort. It may be that we've never taken seriously into account the importance to be ready for the return of Jesus Christ in this judgment, in this appointment. And Jesus doesn't want us to fall into that space, and He's exhorting us to prepare for the fact of His return. It just jumps out in the pages here. Allow your eyes to scan this text in which we read these action verbs, these imperatives. They're unmistakable. Verse 35, Be dressed. He writes, Be girded. Lamps burning. These are action verbs, you know.

Verse 36, Be like men who wait. Verse 37, Be watching. Verse 38, watch. Even in the second watch, the third watch. Verse 40, Be ready. It's all just compacted here in this short passage. Going down to verse 46, He'll come when He is not looking.

Verse 47, prepare. Don't be caught unprepared. These action verbs here, these imperatives. So, it doesn't take very terrific insight to know the emphasis here that Jesus Christ is painting. And it is quite a picture that He's painting. Look back up to verse 35 again. What's the picture here?

Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning. Those there would have immediately been able to employ this picture here that the man, verse 36, is returning from a wedding, coming home, and it's in the context in which the servants who would be waiting for Him. Lamps burning.

Where instead of the Master's absence being an occasion for laziness or neglect, these good servants are watching. They're waiting, ready to answer the door, ready for service.

Middle of verse 36 again, middle of verse 36, when He will return from the wedding, that when He comes and knocks, they may open to Him immediately. Why? How are they able to do that? They're watching. He didn't have to beat on the door for a long time. He didn't have to go around to the window and try to throw rocks on the window pebbles or something. They were there. They saw Him coming. They were ready. And the connection is, make no doubt, that Jesus says, this is the picture of how my servants should be in the prospect of my return. My return back to earth. Coming back from a wedding here. In fact, if you do have a new King James version, verse 35, it's a little bit archaic language, but it leads us in the right direction. Let your waist be girded. Some of us know this picture from the Old Testament. We won't turn there, but it's found in Exodus 12, verse 11. You can look that up later, Exodus 12, verse 11, where it gives the instructions for eating the Passover before they made the Exodus. And it said, you should eat with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, your staff and your hand as they were waiting for the Exodus. And then, back at this time, a dress was such to where they had these long garments, these long flowing garments.

Some of you women can understand this. If you have a long garment, it can certainly impede you in your progress sometimes. So, whenever you were in a state of readiness, what they would do is they would take these cloaks, gather them up, and pull them up, and then tuck them into their belts. There. Gather everything up and tuck it in. And with their sandals and staff in hand, they were ready to be moving forward. So, Jesus here in verse 37 is saying that that state of readiness is good for the servant. Where he says, blessed are the servants whom the master, Jesus Christ, when he comes will find watching. Ready. Girded up. Lamp spurring.

Why is he blessed? Why is the watching servant blessed? Well, it's really amazing what he says and I read through this and I missed it the first time. I missed it several times. Then you see it's like, wow! Amazingly, Jesus says the watching servant is blessed because what the master is going to do then is the master is going to come home and turn the tables in a wonderful way. And he, the master, will then provide for them. He himself will be as a servant, have them recline at the table, and he'll come and wait on them. That's the second part of verse 37. I wonder if you read by it like I did. Second part of verse 37. Assurely, I say to you that he, the master, will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them. That's an amazing picture. Can you imagine? What master would do that?

That's Jesus Christ, of course. What master would serve his servants? Ah, the good master, Jesus Christ. And of course, this is a picture that takes us forward. We won't turn there, but Luke's gospel takes us to this takes us to chapter 22. Of course, the context of the final meal before his crucifixion with his disciples, he serves them. He washes their feet. What a blessing. What a blessing. Christ doesn't ask us to do anything he's not prepared to do. That's a good leader. That's a good leader.

You will be blessed. Verse 37 again, Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Then verse 38, and if he, the master, should come in the second watch or come in the third watch, and find them so blessed are those servants.

So they need to continue to watch, even if it comes in the second or the third watch of the night. In other words, if he doesn't immediately come back, you'll be blessed if you're ready and you're watching. The Romans, I believe, divided their hours of the night into four watches. They had rotations. I think the Jews divided it into three watches. But the picture here is simply a passage of time. From the time that Jesus Christ ascended back to his father, to the time of his return, which we're still looking forward to, this is the passage of time. This is where the servants are ready and watching. And don't grow weary in watching and waiting, even if it goes into the second or third watches of the night. The master will be delighted to find you and I still with the spirit of readiness as his servants. Dressed, girded, everything's ready. Our belts on, our staffs in our hands, our sandals are on our feet. We have our lamp ready, burning. Are you dressed? This is where the urgency comes in. Are your clothes lamps burning, ready for service?

Let's really bring it to today. Now, it's a little unfair for me to ask this question, which I'm going to ask, because I had the advantage of studying this passage over the last few days. But I'll ask it, have you spent one moment in the last week thinking about the return of Jesus Christ? And if so, how has that changed you? What tangible way has it actually changed your daily activity because you know the fact of his return? Has it changed one call that you've made?

Did it alter one email that you wrote? Maybe the words that you were about to send you backspaced.

Did the thought of Jesus Christ's return? Did it repair one broken relationship this week? We heard of one relationship that's on its way. It's wonderful.

I asked this of myself, did the anticipation and the fact that I'm watching and waiting, did it close my mouth from being quick to anger? Let's say. What's a tangible way that the return of Jesus Christ and the fact that he's returning change you today? That's the point. That's the point of all this. It changes the servant today. It changes the watching servant. Did it do anything at all? Because I told myself, you know, I need to remember something here. He's coming. I'm supposed to be dressed. I'm supposed to be shining my light.

Continuing, verse 39, he says, I want you to understand something, but know this, he says, verse 39, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

The verb broken into, it's an interesting verb. It actually means to be bashed, to bash your way through the walls, be broken into the house. It may be an indication that the houses were made of mud and brick and straw then. If the owner had known that someone at the time, in which someone was going to bash through the mud bricks, you know, the owner would have been ready to deal with the appearing of that individual.

But it's the fact of the unexpected nature which made the burglary possible. It made me think of a crime that I read about. I think it's a true story. It was reported many years ago. A couple who had parked their car out on the street for many, many years, they would leave it out there as they turned in for the night.

One night it was stolen and it was missing for several days. Then after a few days, the car was returned. And there was a note left on the car. And the note simply said to the couple that the burglar was thanking the couple. He thanked them for the use of their car, apologized to them for the inconvenience, and he said in order to put things in right standing, he left for them two tickets to the theater.

That's a nice gesture. So the husband and the wife went to the theater only to have the burglar reappear and burglar their home that night. It's a true story from what I can tell. So what's the connection? If the individual receiving the tickets would have said to himself, you know, I know what this person's up to, he wouldn't have gone out.

But it took them completely by surprise. And that's the point Jesus is making. There's no greater point than this. If the owner had known the hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. The fact is he didn't know, therefore it was broken into, and you do not know either, Jesus says. You don't know when I'm returning. That's the implication. So you got to be ready. You got to be ready because the son of man will come like a thief in the night.

He will come in an hour. You don't expect him. Well, that takes us to this next part of the conversation here. And we could refer to this next part as just really a striking warning. It's a striking warning. Maybe one of the most striking in all of the Bible. This comes in response to Peter's inquiry here. Peter asked him a question in verse 41. So leading up to this point, they're listening to Jesus, and then Peter says to him, Lord, do you speak this parable only to us, or to all people?

That's the question. If we want to look for an answer to this question, if you allow your eyes to go back to the first verse of the chapter, you'll see that there was a large crowd gathered, an innumerable multitude, it says. There might have been thousands, perhaps, that had gathered around Jesus, trampling one another. Luke writes, he really was speaking to his disciples here, the middle of verse 1, though.

He says he began to say to his disciples, first of all, so he began speaking to his disciples first. He was no doubt speaking in such a way, though, to where these instructions would eventually lead to reaching those who were in earshot of his voice. They gathered around. That fact is seen because the crowd throughout this next, as you go through the verses, they began to respond to Jesus.

There was some back and forth, like verse 13 says, one from the crowd said to him. So there was exchanges between Jesus and the crowd here, leading up to this moment. In any case, and likewise elsewhere, Jesus does not answer Peter's question directly there in verse 41. Instead, he in turn poses another question. Jesus did this often. So he responds to Peter and anyone who could hear his voice. In other words, he tells this story.

Often he tells stories, parables to his disciples, and also anyone else who hears it. I'm sure he would say, well, if the shoe fits, you know, you can wear this next story that you can own this next story that I'm telling. And here in the beginning of verse 42, he describes another scene which had been very familiar with the people. Let me give you the overview here, beginning in verse 42, the overview of this story.

It's the story now that Jesus goes into of the master, who's the owner of an estate, and he delegates oversight to one of his servant managers, if you will. In turn, the servant manager has certain responsibilities. One of the responsibilities is to make sure that those in the workforce are given their food allowance at the proper time, and so the owner of the state allows the manager a certain amount of freedom, and if the manager is a faithful and wise servant, he's going to use this period of time in which the owner leaves to make sure everything's taken care of.

That's the essence of the story. The owner of the state puts his servant master in charge while he leaves to look after certain things. Verse 42, verse 42, who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household to give them their portion of food in due season? That's the question.

In the context, notice the next phrase, blessed is that servant, verse 43, whom his master will find so doing when he comes, fulfilling the will of the the owner while in his absence.

So it's in the servant's actions, it's in the servant's activities, it's in the servant's readiness that he declares himself a faithful and wise manager. It's not in a name tag, much more than a name tag. The owner could have given the servant master a name tag, says his name. Underneath it, it says, faithful and wise manager. That's easy to do. Walk around the estate. You can see I'm a faithful and wise manager. No, that would be easy. That's not here. Rather, his faithfulness and his wisdom is directly related to his readiness, readiness to fulfill the owner's will. In his preparedness to use his freedom, now in the owner's absence, not as an opportunity to despise those under his care, but rather as an opportunity to fulfill his master's will to care for them effectively in his master's absence. So, such an individual, then, will be, if he's wise and faithful, will be given more authority. Verse 44, verse 44, truly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all he has. If he's faithful and wise. In other words, the owner will come back and say, you've done a wonderful job here, and as a result of that, I'm going to let you look over a few of my other men and women and my other properties, if you will, because you're clearly so faithful. It's wonderful. However, here's the difficult part. Jesus now flips the coin, and he says, however, on the other hand, verse 45 and 46, verse 45 and 46, but, so this is in the master's absence, being gone, but if that servant says in his heart, the master is delaying his coming and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he's not looking for him and at an hour when he's not aware and will cut him into and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Let's stop there. So, if the servant seizes the master's delay and does not do the master's will, rather uses the absence as an opportunity for self promotion, an occasion for indulgence, an occasion to act cruelly, act unjustly, then he's going to be severely punished. It's there at the end of verse 46. He will cut him into and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Striking statement, to say the least.

There's a false belief in mainstream Christianity. Maybe you've heard this. It's a real deceitful belief where the Christian is, if they're once saved, they're always saved. You know, you've heard that, of course. The belief that once you've confessed belief, you're in.

And the world's pulpits say that those so-called believers will get in no matter what, and then they'll say, but you know how you live your life will determine if you get in tattered and limping, or if you how you live your life will determine how if you go in strong and victorious. But either way you're getting in, they will say. Was that what Jesus is saying? Jesus never said, once you believe, it doesn't matter how you live your life, while he's absent and while you await his return. He never said that. Rather, the truth is much more striking. He says, first, if he's a faithful and wise servant, he'll be commended, she'll be commended, be given greater responsibility upon his return. But if he's this kind of servant who says, my master's delaying his coming begins to beat male and female servants, eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day he's not looking for him. He'll be cut up, thrown out with the company to which he belongs, ultimately the unbelievers. I don't know how many pulpits, church pulpits, are reading this passage today. It's really an unpalatable truth here, unpalatable in the 21st century. The idea of judgment, the idea of reckoning. But we know this idea is written into the very fabric of our everyday lives. Every test needs to be marked. Every exam needs a grade. Every athletic endeavor needs to be measured.

In the journey of our lives, in our days, in the service or in the denial of our master, will inevitably lead to a day of judgment.

And one of the reasons men and women live their lives in confusion, and the reason they don't adhere themselves to the Word of God again, is because they're divorced from the beginnings of the world, and therefore they denied themselves the reality, the fact, of Christ's return. They're caught up in circle thinking.

Life's never going to end. It's going to go on forever. Go on forever. God has not called them to linear thinking, where life starts with the beginning, and one day will come to an end. Jesus says, no, I want you, I want to set it out very differently for you. To those to whom he's called to beginning and end thinking, to thinking that way, he says, you're my servants now, and I want you to understand that you're either a faithful and wise manager to which much will be given, or you're not, and perhaps you're going to be this individual given up with the end of believers.

Would he then assign a true believer to a place with unbelievers? Well, it may be, I'll try to apply this to us today, myself included, it may be that he would simply assign an unbeliever who only cherished the illusion of a belief or manufactured a perception of belief but was never a true believer.

Maybe for some, he will simply take the professing believer, who in fact is an unbeliever, and put him with the unbelievers.

It is the man or woman who simply disguise the reality of their unbelief.

When the judge pulls back the curtain and reveals the heart of that man, the motivation of that woman, it may be obvious. You're not with my faithful and wise servants at this time.

So this master servant here described who was put over people, his position may simply have concealed the state of his heart. And given the right context, given a long enough delay, and maybe a greater sense of freedom, that the master has delayed his coming, in the absence of the master, the reality of his or her unbelief becomes apparent. That's why I have this urgency. I think this is what has been building up this urgency in my life, my particular life, maybe yours. Do you ever wonder the reason why you do what you do, and why I do what I do, is just simply because I've always done it. I've always lived... I grew up in the church. I grew up with the Sabbath. I grew up with the Day of Trumpets. I grew up with the Feast of Tabernacles. Why do I do it? Well, let's think about this. Is it because I've always done it? It's all I've known? It's the framework of my life? I come here on a Saturday on the Sabbath, and it's just what I do.

But I wonder, removed from that framework because of end-time realities, what would that reveal about the heart of me as a servant? Given enough of a delay of my Master's return, what might it really, truly reveal in my heart?

See, that's where the rubber meets the road.

The chapter leading up to this one, chapter 11, Christ has already stung the Pharisees and addressed them in relation to religious hypocrisy. He says, you're clinging on the outside.

Your inside's filthy. You talk about knowledge, but has that knowledge that's been rattling around in your mind actually transformed your life? What kind of servant are you? This is the striking warning, and it only gets worse here. I wish it didn't. The nails only sunk in a little bit more. Verse 47 and 48.

And that servant who knew his Master's will, that's a key there. We know, you and I know. We've been called, eyes open, to know our Master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, their eyes weren't opened at this moment, yet committed things deserving of stripes shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given from him much will be required, and to whom much has been committed of him they will ask the more. You know, we read that second part of verse 48 often, and sometimes we read that separated from verse 47. When you read it with verse 47, it comes with some great impact here. In other words, the more you know, the more you're entrusted with in terms of service to your Master, the greater the prospect of honor, but also the greater prospect of punishment if you do not prepare yourself properly. Is that what he's saying here? So the servant who knew his Master's will, he or she then, if they should abuse such a privilege and not prepare themselves, well, they shall be beaten and get this with many stripes. More stripes than the man or woman who did not know the Master's will. There's great responsibility given to those whom he has been given the privilege in this lifetime, at this moment, to know the Master's will. We need to be ready for this return, and it may come sooner than we think.

We need to be ready for this day. What day? The Luke 12 day when the Master returns.

So again, he is not interested in the bigger scheme of things if you know the timetable of history. He's not concerned in the bigger scheme of things, whether you can draw out charts or diagrams and know all the events that surround when or how his return is going to be. He's concerned whether or not if your nose is up against the window and you're watching for him. Kind of like the grandchild does, you know, to the grandparents. The grandparents are coming to visit, and often I see it on Facebook often. We're awaiting, you know, Pat Paul and Nanos return, and the little grandchild's nose is pushed up against the window, you know, watching the cars, disappointed when it's not them, you know. So excited once they do arrive. And the child watching for the grandparents, when they arrive, he's not so concerned about all the contingencies which have led up to it, simply to say, though, I'm so glad you're here.

That's the Luke 12 picture, looking for him, watching for him.

And so the shock, the shock of the symbolic additional beatings the shock is not a shock that is so much found in the men and women who were just simply overhearing Jesus's words, those outside of Christ's calling. The shock is not so much there.

The shock is the ultimate shock when Jesus Christ returns will be those within the confines of being in Christ, who profess to be in Christ, perhaps. Those in the order of God's ordained calling have been called first to be his servants, when many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, didn't we attend the United Church of God? Didn't we participate in the Feast of Tabernacles? Lord, weren't we involved? I even volunteered for ushering at the Feast. Didn't I do all these things?

And he will say, depart from me, I never knew you.

I have always in the past applied that to outside of the Church of God.

Always that passage, I never maybe truly hit it at the heart of us here today. This is where the shock lies for the the servants who are called to an opportunity to know their master's will.

Perhaps it's the shock of those who live so closely to the light without having been embraced by it, who have been given the first opportunity to know the master's will, may find themselves more strictly judged on the basis of his or her greater privilege. For those who have been given the opportunity now to know Christ in this lifetime, to know His will, it's imperative then that we stay on the lookout. Stay on the lookout. I always need imagery. I think of the sailor who is in the, I think they call it a crow's nest. I might be wrong about that. And they're up high and they're looking for perils, perhaps looking for icebergs.

This is before radar equipment and those things, sonic radar equipment. The person would be up there in the freezing cold of night in the ocean liner as it made its journey. And his distinct responsibility was make sure he saw at the earliest moment anything that would cause peril not only to himself but to his fellow members on board. Likewise, there are many icebergs to avoid in our preparation to be ready for Christ's return. So many it's too long of a list. But I just want to give you one mama iceberg, we'll call it.

One peril in which God's servants need to look for as they wait.

You might pick a different iceberg. I think the big one, the big iceberg of all, is procrastination. Procrastination. In other words, tomorrow. Tomorrow. We'll deal with it tomorrow.

Thanks for sharing that this morning. Very helpful. Tomorrow we're going to get right on it.

The devil's favorite word is tomorrow.

If it's an issue worth addressing in your life, address it today. Now, if it's a matter that needs to be dealt with, dealt with it today. It's not a consideration for tomorrow. There's no guarantee for tomorrow. Is there? Therefore, if I'm not going to be ready, if I'm going to be ready, if I'm going to be trusting, I'm going to be obeying, and if you're looking at areas of my life now in which I can shine the light of this passage, I want to be living in my purpose.

I want to die at my post.

I want to die. If I'm going to die, Father, that's what I want to die. I want to die watching, waiting, not only for myself, but my brothers and sisters who are with me on this journey.

What a tragedy for those who had an opportunity to be a first servant, to know, to truly know, then to put off properly responding, therefore was not preparing. Oh, I'm just getting around to it. I actually made up my mind that sometime in the next few months I would fill in the blank.

Two months may be too late.

And you say, well, that's a very uncomfortable feeling. I don't like to feel uncomfortable. I don't like to feel uncomfortable either. But be aware of anyone who seeks to make you feel comfortable in these circumstances. Those of us who can coolly listen to the exhortation of the Bible, to the fact of His return, and consistently resist the urge and promptings of the Spirit by the Word of God are probably not going to be ready. If you don't fully commit yourself now, then when?

If nothing in your this point in your life suggests that you will be ready, because you've not got any ready so far, and you've been asked to get ready, and you've been warned to get ready, and you've been urged to get ready, and you've understood the necessity to get ready, and you're convinced that readiness is of urgency and importance, and yet you're not ready, therefore I say to you, is it probable that you may never be ready?

What do you think is going to happen next that hasn't happened already that is going to bring you to the condition of readiness?

A better sermon?

A more urgent warning? What's it going to be that's finally going to get you there? A more striking call?

Augustine writes, what crooked paths I trod, what danger has threatened my soul, when it rationally hoped by abandoning you it would find something better? So we can be in that state of abandoning our post, and if that's where you live your life, consider the fact of his return and the uncertainty of knowing when he will return. Consider the longer that you listen and ignore the call, perhaps the more hardening your heart will be, and the more distance you will have placed yourself from the offers of mercy and become more and more probable, humanly speaking, that you will be overtaken by death in an unready state.

Well, if you find this a little harsh, I do too.

I want to finish today by pointing out a simple fact. It is the fact that you and I are still breathing today, aren't we? We're still taking in and out breaths.

You may say that's the most profound thing you said today.

But it's an important fact, isn't it?

In these matters of our life, we've been called to a readiness and maybe haven't yet made ourselves completely ready. There's still hope. You're still breathing today.

That's a little bit of comfort to me. When I hit my knees and asked for God for forgiveness of an unreadiness item in my life, and I'm still asking for forgiveness, sometimes you go to bed at night and you just think, ah, I wonder. I don't deserve to open my eyes in the morning and take that first conscious breath. And when you do, it's like, oh, Father, thank you. Today's a new day. Today's a new day.

Thank you for the opportunity of today. So I want to say that one word to you. Today. Today. Today. Use the fact of Jesus Christ's return to pray a prayer maybe that you've never prayed before. Bow your head tonight. Ask the Father for a deeper desire to be ready, and then ask for the ability to be ready in a deeper level. Father, please help me to be ready for your son's return. Ready whether at the time I'm awaiting your son to return from the grave or whether at that time of his return I'm alive and awaiting my change. Either way, help me to be ready. Help me to put your son's return across every page of my planner. Help me to know, to deeply know, the fact of his return and let it drive the rest of my days. So, let's individually, as a group, renew our commitment today to have our wastes girded, lamps burning, be men and women who are waiting so that when he comes and knocks, we're ready there to open the door immediately to embrace him forever.