Transcript
Speaker: Wow, thank you so much for leading us in worship. Felt like you took us right to the throne of grace. appreciate you using the talents and skills, abilities that God has given to you. And I know, Katie, you must be so proud of them. They're doing great using what they have been given from the Lord to honor Him. Well, I'm so glad you're here this morning.
Speaker: I would like for you to open God's Word to Luke 17. Luke 20 through
Speaker: As you know, an interruption is when an obstruction stops or hinders progress, a plan, a current, or motion. It's sort of like a temporary cessation.
Speaker: It's an intermission or a suspension. It disrupts, it diverts attention. I think about whenever we've been in our house sometimes watching our favorite show or football game, and there's a power outage. I was praying for one yesterday. But anyway, power outage.
Speaker: Then there's a dead battery. You go and there's just a dead battery. There's a traffic jam. There's road construction or sometimes sickness or maybe a football interception.
Speaker: Sorry, I keep going there. I promise that's the last reference. But here it is. I read an article from a firm that serves schools and businesses.
Speaker: and their surveys indicated that the average person is interrupted, get this, 50 times a day. Now maybe they're talking about just in schools or maybe just in businesses, but that would be like in an eight hour day, it'd be an interruption every nine minutes.
Speaker: So I don't know if you face that many interruptions in your day, but the title of this message is an imminent interruption. It's based upon the content of our Lord's words in Luke 17, 20 through 37, where Jesus spoke of his second coming.
Speaker: i want you to listen to some quotes by Dr. John MacArthur in an article entitled, Is Christ's Return Imminent? Here's what he said.
Speaker: It does not mean that it will happen right away. Instead, it means that it could happen at any moment. In light of Christ's imminent return, we're to make sure we know Christ.
Speaker: If Christ will return at any moment, we cannot wait to believe. We're called to do so today. The New Testament writers often wrote of Christ appearing, and they never failed to convey the sense that this could happen imminently.
Speaker: Here's a verse. And now, little children, abide in him that when he appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed because of him at his coming.
Speaker: Paul furthermore made it plain that a watchful, hopeful expectancy about Christ's second coming is one of the godly attitudes divine grace teaches all believers.
Speaker: Here's another verse. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Speaker: Why is it so important to believe that Christ could come at any moment? Because the hope of Christ's imminent coming has a powerful, sanctifying, and pur purifying effect on us.
Speaker: 1 John 3, 3, everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. And the last one, the knowledge that Christ's coming is drawing closer should motivate us, all of us, to prepare, to pursue Christ's likeness, and to put off the All the things that pertain to our former lives without Christ.
Speaker: Wow. I think it's amazing. You know, I want us to look today at a passage in our journey through Luke, Luke 17, verses 20 through 37. And I want you to listen to what Jesus himself says about his imminent return.
Speaker: So let's listen, and I want you to pay close attention to the group, the audience that he's speaking to, because it's one audience in verse 20, but it changes in verse 22.
Speaker: Why is that? Would you stand one more time, just in honor of God's word? You'll be sitting for a while, being asked by the Pharisees. I didn't mean that that way, but being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed.
Speaker: Nor will they say, look, here it is, or there. For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. And he said to the disciples, the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it they will say to you, look there or look here.
Speaker: Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
Speaker: But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation, just as it was in the days of Noah. So will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
Speaker: They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Speaker: Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.
Speaker: So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away.
Speaker: And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
Speaker: I tell you, in that night, there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.
Speaker: Two men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other left. And they said to him, where, Lord? He said to them, where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
Speaker: Let's pray together. Lord, give us understanding. I think that's been my prayer all week long, is that as we read this, just give us understanding. Help us to know what you're trying to say to your people.
Speaker: Feed us and equip us. Most of all, prepare us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, may be seated.
Speaker: Now I wanna be clear that Matthew 24, 36 and Mark 13, 32 and 33, they both tell us that no one knows the exact day or hour of Christ's return.
Speaker: So we're not gonna set any the dates or schedules or anything that like that. But that right there, do you know that that is why for all humanity, the coming of Christ would not only be a surprise,
Speaker: I actually think it's gonna be, well, an interruption. Because we're gonna be planning to do different things, and suddenly all of those plans, they won't matter anymore. So let's go through this passage and just let the Lord speak for himself.
Speaker: That's what I like to do. i like I'm not trying to be radical as I'm talking about the second coming of Christ. I'm trying to be biblical when I'm talking about the second coming of Christ. So let's see, what does he say? What does Jesus say in verses 20 and 21? And to whom is he speaking?
Speaker: I think the first thing he would say is that Christ's kingdom is already, it's already an invisible interruption. You see, the Jewish people at this time, they had already been expecting the Messiah.
Speaker: They were thinking, he's going to come, he's going to deliver us from the bondage that we're under with the Roman Empire. So they were waiting on the Messiah to come. But see, what happened was, even though they were expecting it, the Pharisees, they missed the inauguration of the kingdom because Jesus, he'd already been there.
Speaker: The Messiah had been standing there in their midst already for three years, and they totally missed it. I wonder if there's someone who comes and maybe you just haven't really met Jesus Christ personally yet.
Speaker: I want you to know he's here today. When the children were singing, or teenagers were singing, man, it was amazing to hear them lift up the Lord. And I thought, Lord, you're here.
Speaker: They're lifting you up and we're lifting you up. When you were singing about your gratitude toward the Lord, I believe you meant it with all your heart. But see, the Pharisees, they were missing all of that.
Speaker: I think they were missing it because it's not an external observation. But here's what happens. When Jesus comes into a life, there's an internal transformation.
Speaker: Everything changes. I know it certainly did in my life. When I was a high school senior, if you'd have known me then, you wouldn't know me today. You would say, that's two different guys, right?
Speaker: But in my freshman year at university, that's when God changed my life. But I invited him to come in as my Lord, as my King. The kingdom of God came within and began to change me from the inside out.
Speaker: And that's why in verse 20 he says, it's not coming in ways that can be observed. They were overlooking Jesus. Because they were looking for a geographical location.
Speaker: Where's he going to put the throne? Where's he going to do it? Where's he going to reign from? And when he came as the suffering servant, when he came to die on the cross for our sins, they were totally overlooking him.
Speaker: They were not watching for spiritual reformation. So that's the first thing that says to them in these first two verses, 20 and 21. But when you drop down into 22 through 25, I think the second thing that Jesus says about his coming is that his coming will be an inevitable interruption. Inevitable.
Speaker: Jesus' favorite title. was Son of man even in this passage. I mean just this passage we looked at today He uses son of man four times, but if you were to expand that to Matthew's gospel Mark's gospel all the rest of Luke's gospel John's gospel Jesus used that or they used it about Jesus 84 times I believe it emphasizes his humanity.
Speaker: And that's why he wants you to know if you came and it's hard for you right now, you know, just like that song about faithfulness, he'll be faithful. He will not fail no matter what the season, no matter which generation that we're in.
Speaker: He's not going to fail you. And so what I'm thinking is, well, Lord, no matter what we go through, you're right there to help us. And it's inevitable that the Son of Man can connect with you today.
Speaker: But I want you to see the certainty of his coming. Verse 22 and verse 24, he says, the days of the Son of Man, will the Son of Man be in his day? Over and over, he keeps mentioning this Son of Man.
Speaker: It's actually from Daniel chapter 7. but there's the certainty of our waiting. He says in verse 22 to them, he said, the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the son of man and you will not see it.
Speaker: I would say even today, don't you desire to see your Lord? Don't you just wish, I wish it was today. I wish he was coming back today. Why won't he just come back today? You know why he doesn't?
Speaker: Because of mercy. Because there's still some people that have not trusted him for salvation. And so it's all his mercy. It's his grace. He's saying, I'm going to give more time so that more people can turn to me and trust me.
Speaker: But he is coming. Then there's also the certainty of some who will be misleading. He said, they'll say to you, look there or look here. Do not go out or follow them.
Speaker: No, when Jesus comes back, you and I, everybody, we're going to know. The certainty of his arrival is mentioned in verse 24 when he compares it. to lightning.
Speaker: You know, have you ever been out in the field? I remember when Jody and I used to go camping and we would be in a tent and it'd be lightning, you know, and I was thinking, okay, Lord, we need you. We need you tonight to watch over us while we sleep.
Speaker: But it's like sudden, you can't hardly predict the lightning. It's like it will come and it just flashes and there it is. It's visible though, right? But it's also unmistakable.
Speaker: When lightning happens, you're waiting on that thunder to follow it. The certainty of his suffering though, because at this point, see at this point, it's all ahead. He hasn't gone to the cross.
Speaker: He hasn't suffered. He hasn't been raised from the dead. None of those things have taken place. And so what he says next in verse 25, but first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation and so forth.
Speaker: What that's talking about is he still had time with them before any of these things were going to take place. So there's the certain certainty of his suffering and the certainty of his rejecting.
Speaker: But you know what I think is really cool is that Jesus is giving you and me, giving all of us, advance warning. He's giving us advance notice of his return with a clarification that man's disinterest Maybe you'd say, yeah, but the people I try to share with, they're not interested.
Speaker: Man's disinterest or man's opposition. Neither one of those can stop it. It's just like a train that's coming from heaven. He's coming. And so we have to be ready for it rather than trying to stop it, rather than say, I don't believe it, so it'll go away. It won't go away.
Speaker: And so that's what I'm trying to say from my heart as your pastor, someone who cares and loves this community. For 19 years, I've loved this community, and I want my community to know Jesus is real.
Speaker: And I want you to be a part of his kingdom when he comes back. But the third thing that Jesus says about it is that Christ's coming will also be inescapable.
Speaker: When I say it's an interruption, it'll be an in in inescapable interruption. Yes, it'll be unexpected, but it's also gonna be inexcapable inescapable, inescapable, verses 26 through 30. What I want you to listen to as we go through these next set of verses, there's gonna be a repeating fourfold pattern.
Speaker: There's four things that's gonna do the same thing with two different illustrations from the Old Testament. He's gonna give an illustration, ah continuation, evacuation, and elimination.
Speaker: So let's look at the first one. What's the illustration from a historical parallel? If he's gonna compare something so that all of us down here on this earth could understand, he says, oh I've got it.
Speaker: The illustration I'm gonna compare the coming of the Son of Man to is the days of Noah in the flood. So it's like it was a historical reality, but it's also got some historical similarity because he's saying just like that,
Speaker: The son of man, when he comes back, it's gonna be just like that. And so there's an illustration from a historical parallel of the days of Noah. But notice something that he does. He doesn't say what you would expect.
Speaker: If you were to go to Genesis six, you know on Wednesday nights and Sunday nights, we've been going through Genesis and we're almost finished. But we started at the beginning, kind of looking at the high points, but one of them was Genesis six.
Speaker: In Genesis 6, it says the wickedness was great whenever God sent judgment upon this earth. That's why the wickedness was great. and It says every intention of their heart continually, all of them, was just wickedness, wickedness, wickedness over and over He could have called out that.
Speaker: He could have said, that's why it came. But that's not his point. So what is his point? This is his point. His point is the interruption. There's going to be a continuation of normal activities until.
Speaker: Normal activities until. In other words, people are going to still be eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage. These are not sinful things. This is just the way it's going to be. So Genesis 6-5 mentions other abnormal things that were happening, but I wanted you to see his point is it's going to seem normal, just like a normal week, a normal weekend, a normal day, ah normal afternoon or normal night.
Speaker: But then notice the evacuation of the biblical pace setter. Verse 27 says, they were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day when what happened?
Speaker: When Noah died. entered the ark. See, now the biblical pace setter, the one who believes God, who trusts God, who's trying his best to obey God and follow God, he's safe.
Speaker: He's safe in the ark. And so once the evacuation happens, that's when judgment falls, the wrath falls. Notice the elimination next of the total unbelievers. The flood came and destroyed. How many?
Speaker: Some of them That's not what the text says. Destroyed all of them. And so just think of how serious that is, the elimination of all the unbelievers.
Speaker: But then listen as Jesus goes on and repeats the fourfold pattern again, just so we don't misunderstand. Only this time he's not with Noah, this time he's going with Lot.
Speaker: And so the illustration is during the days of Lot, he said. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot. So what about the continuation? Same exact thing as in the days of Noah, right?
Speaker: Well, they were eating and they were drinking, but then there's something changing. What changes? Wait a minute, what is that? Noah, when in his day they were eating and drinking and then they were giving, they were marrying and giving in marriage.
Speaker: But notice that's not mentioned in the days of Lot, right? And I thought, wow, that's amazing. So what does he say instead? Well, instead he says they were eating and drinking and then he goes on to say, not marrying and being given in marriage, but buying and selling, planting and building.
Speaker: So you know, right, why God sent judgment in the days of Lot. It was because of the yeah homosexuality. It was immoral like crazy in Sodom.
Speaker: But he doesn't mention that, does he? No, because his emphasis is not on what caused the judgment. His emphasis is on how everything's going to seem like a normal day.
Speaker: And don't you know in Sodom and Gomorrah, it just seemed like a normal day. The emphasis was not on the sins that caused the judgment, rather the routines leading up to the judgment. See, they were apathetic and they were indifferent toward God.
Speaker: And then suddenly everything changed. In one day. The evacuation of the biblical pace setters. Is that there? Oh yes it is. But on that day when Lot went out.
Speaker: The angels had to pull him out of there. It said he was trying to linger. And they were saying no I've got to get you and your family out of here. But then notice the elimination of the total of unbelievers. When it says fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.
Speaker: So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Man, it's like over and over he's saying the same thing. And what is he trying to say? I think he's trying to say it's gonna come so suddenly and it will be inescapable.
Speaker: There's no do-over. it He can't say, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait. with Let's don't do No, this today, this is the time for us to say, okay, I'm gonna take him up on his gracious offer of salvation in Christ so that I'm ready.
Speaker: But on that day, when that happens, suddenly, I'm just telling you, everything's going to change. Well, he goes on in verses 31 to 33 and talks about the invaluable interruption.
Speaker: There's something about the coming of Christ. It clarifies. It's sort of like reveals something. And what it reveals? What is your real What's treasure? What's my real treasure?
Speaker: What's your real treasure? What's your real treasure? I think that ancient homes in Israel, I did a little bit of research and I found out that their patio is not in the backyard.
Speaker: Their patio is on top of the house. Their roofs were flat. And so they put an extra staircase, an exterior staircase on the side of the house so that when guests came, they could just go straight up there without going into the house.
Speaker: And so knowing that may help you when you hear what he says next. here's the Here's what I see about this invaluable interruption. Invaluable means it's so precious.
Speaker: It means you can't even calculate how precious it is. So what does he say if you're up on the housetop? He says, don't don't worry about going back into the house to get all the goods out.
Speaker: you know, get your cell phone, get your get your computer, you know, get your guns, get whatever is important to you. No, he says, the priority of the value of the king should be above the things.
Speaker: Is there anything that you value more than the king? You don't want to be that way on the day he comes back. You want to say, I put my faith and trust in Christ.
Speaker: And so his worth to me is far beyond calculation. It's invaluable. It's my priority. But notice also the revelatory, the revelatory thing that's going to happen, the clarity that's going to happen.
Speaker: Because when we're called, will we go to worship? Or will we still try to hang on to the world? which one Which one would you rather have? Would you rather worship the king?
Speaker: Or do you rather say, no, I need some more time with the world. Well, Jesus thought about that and he wasn't sure where everybody would be on there. So verse 32 says, remember Lot's wife.
Speaker: When the two angels were getting Lot and his family out, one of the things they said is, don't look back. Don't look back at Sodom and Gomorrah. Don't look back. Well, Lot's wife, unfortunately, she looked back. It wasn't that she looked back. It was that she was longing to be back.
Speaker: And when she looked back, she turned into a pillar of salt, is the testimony of the word of God. And so I'm thinking, oh my goodness. But it's like it reveals what's going on inside of our hearts if we wanna go back in the house and get some more goods.
Speaker: We ought to say, Lord, you're the greatest treasure in my life. I've been waiting on this day forever. So that's why verse 33 says, we ought to take an inventory, an inventory of which treasures we've sought in our life and which treasures we've surrendered in our life.
Speaker: see, the second coming will disclose the balance sheet. The second coming will say, where did you make the most investments? Investments of time, investments of energy, investments of your hard-earned money that you work hard for.
Speaker: Where have you invested the most? Did you invest them in God's kingdom? We should take an inventory. He says, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life,
Speaker: will keep it. And so it will reveal it that day. So that's why I'm saying it's invaluable because it will tell us you put me above all the other stuff, didn't you?
Speaker: And it's like, woo, there we go. But the fifth thing and the final thing is Jesus' second coming will also be, this is sobering, intractable, no do-overs. It's permanent. It's unmanageable.
Speaker: It's an intractable interruption. See, the anticipation of the interruption is should be should be global. I tell you in that night, there'll be two in one bed. one will be taken in the other left. There'll be two women grinding together. One will be taken the other left.
Speaker: The same about the men in the field. So how can it be night and day at the same time? All you got to do is travel around the world. Before I became a pastor, I was a missionary.
Speaker: And I learned that it's not the same. It may be daylight in one country, and it's dark in another country. And so when he comes back on that day, i mean, it's global. We should say, you know what? It's not going to matter where I'm standing.
Speaker: It's not going to matter where I'm working. It's not going to matter where I'm laying down. All that matters is that I'm ready. And so notice the location of the interruption. It could be at home with your wife, with your husband. It could be at work with coworkers.
Speaker: But the thing that's really sobering is the separation because one is taken and one is left. And what is that based on? Based on preparation.
Speaker: Based on what we've done with Jesus Christ. If you were to go to Matthew 24 verses 40 through 46, it's a repeat. Almost the same exact thing that we've looked at here in Luke. Matthew's got it as well.
Speaker: Matthew 24 verses 40 46. But the only thing he adds that's helpful is he says, stay awake. He means spiritually. He also says, be ready spiritually.
Speaker: He says, be faithful and wise spiritually. And all of those things happen when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. See, the disciples ask the Lord a question at the end in verse 37, and they say, where, Lord?
Speaker: So what they're wanting to know is, what's the location of such judgment? And his answer would be, it could be one of three things. It could be wherever the spiritually dead are Wherever the physically dead are, because if he's come back, it's going to be bad news for those who've rejected Christ. But wherever the unbelievers are, because they're going to be there eternally.
Speaker: You know, this talks about the the vultures. Some see that as like signs. You know, where where one vulture is, you know what? That's not really going to be enough.
Speaker: But when you start seeing a lot of vultures circling, man, that's That's when you should say, when I see all those signs the Bible said are coming, when they all begin to circle, I better be ready.
Speaker: I better know that it's in it's intractable now because we can't pull it back. We can't reel this back. No, it's going to be coming. This past Wednesday night, after a Bible study, Wayne Williams and I were going out.
Speaker: We were talking. We were solving all the problems of the world. was amazing. But when we get in the parking lot, I couldn't believe it. It's like, I don't know if they were vultures or just blackbirds or crows or what they were, but there were so many of them.
Speaker: But it's what Wayne said next that got me. He said, Pastor, are you sure you're still alive? you know I was like, I was wondering the same thing about you. you know But anyway, i don't know why they were circling our church, but hopefully our church is alive.
Speaker: But you know what? When I was a teenager, I remember watching an old Christian film called Thief in the Night. And I always often wonder, where did they get that thief in the night? Why are they comparing the Lord's coming to a thief? You know, he's not a thief.
Speaker: Well, it it comes from passages like this where in Luke 12, 39 to 40, but you know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have left his house to be broken into. So it's a metaphor.
Speaker: But then he says, you also must be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour. You do not expect. Of course, later we know that they updated that film thief in the night to left behind. There was one in 2001 and 2014, but you know what Jesus is trying to tell us an interruptions coming.
Speaker: an interruption is coming, and there's no way we're going to know when it is. So the only way we can be prepared is we have to trust Christ. So I just want to read to you a passage from Mark 115.
Speaker: The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe. repent and believe in the gospel. That's really how simple God made it.
Speaker: He said, if you want to be ready whenever it comes, if you want to be ready so it won't be an interruption, it'll be a celebration, then there is a way. And what the way is, you say, Lord, I'm going to turn from my sins.
Speaker: I'm going to put my faith and my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to trust you because you laid down your life for me so that I could be in your kingdom, so that I could be in your family, so that all my failures from the past could be washed away.
Speaker: So why don't we stand together? I want to close in prayer, invite the musicians if they would come and lead us in one more song. I love the the words of this song say, am surrender all. It's so simple.
Speaker: Have you ever just really laid it all out there for Jesus? Have you ever said, Lord, I just, I surrender all. I don't know what to do. I just know I want to trust you. That's really all you need to know is to trust him.
Speaker: See, he's the one who was perfect. That's why his substitutionary death on the cross makes all the difference. He kept all the rules. he He kept all the Lord's commandments. So that's why we just have to say, I'm tired of living for self.
Speaker: of thinking I got it myself, and I'm gonna put my faith and trust in you, Lord. That's what this invitation is about. So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, thank you so much for the opportunity to preach the gospel, for the opportunity to go through the word of God, verse by verse, in the gospel of Luke.
Speaker: And so Lord, we've done that, but it could be that someone here, they've not done their part. You certainly did your part when you died on the cross. Father, you did your part when you raised your son from the dead three days later. Lord, we know that you will come back.
Speaker: And so we're looking forward to just that that day when you bring your kingdom this earth. But until then, Lord, we need to we need to do our part and we need to repent.
Speaker: and put our faith and trust in the gospel. If we're trusting in anything else, would you show that to us so we can take care of that? So bless us as we go into this invitation. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
