SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: Please take your Bible and open it with me to Matthew chapter 24.
SPEAKER_01: As we pick up again in our walk through Matthew's gospel, we find ourselves this morning somewhere in the middle of chapter 24.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's not because I'm uncertain.
SPEAKER_01: It's because last week we kind of talked a little bit about verses 32, 33, 34, and 35.
SPEAKER_01: So we ought to pick up this morning in verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm actually going to start this morning in verse 32 because we need to go back and talk about some things there that I did not cover last Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: And your bulletin says that we're going to work our way all the way through the end of the chapter.
SPEAKER_01: I'll confess to you that I was overzealous in that attempt.
SPEAKER_01: We're not going to make it there, but we will read it nevertheless.
SPEAKER_01: So if you would follow along in your Bible as I read from Matthew 24, beginning in verse 32, and we'll read through the end of the chapter.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is speaking to his disciples, and he says, From the fig tree, learn its lesson.
SPEAKER_01: As soon as the branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
SPEAKER_01: So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near at the very gates.
SPEAKER_01: Truly, or amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
SPEAKER_01: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
SPEAKER_01: But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
SPEAKER_01: For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left.
SPEAKER_01: Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore stay awake, 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 left his house to be broken into.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore you also must be ready.
SPEAKER_01: For the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
SPEAKER_01: Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give him their food at the proper time?
SPEAKER_01: Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
SPEAKER_01: Truly, amen, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
SPEAKER_01: But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed, and he 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.
SPEAKER_01: And he will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.
SPEAKER_01: In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Those of us who believe that the scriptures speak of the Lord's church being caught up to be with him before the time that we know as the tribulation, we sometimes have difficulty applying the Lord's second coming in power and great glory, his personal coming to the earth a second time.
SPEAKER_01: We will have been with him already for seven years when he returns.
SPEAKER_01: So what import, what application, what importance is there for the second coming for us?
SPEAKER_01: We will have already been with him.
SPEAKER_01: So why do we have to hear about that?
SPEAKER_01: What implications are there for us?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' 12 disciples weren't looking for application when they inquired back in verse 3 about the timing of his judgment on the temple and Jerusalem and his return in great power and glory.
SPEAKER_01: They weren't looking for application.
SPEAKER_01: They were looking for understanding and clarity.
SPEAKER_01: They wanted to know when the judgment Jesus spoke of was going to take place.
SPEAKER_01: They wanted to know when it would occur and what should we look for as the sign of your coming in regal glory and splendor.
SPEAKER_01: For them, knowledge was critical.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 31 concludes Jesus' direct answer of those questions back in verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus doesn't stop talking.
SPEAKER_01: He's like any good preacher, he keeps on talking for another chapter and a half.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning in verse 32, the Lord shifts slightly from factual informational answers to the disciples' questions to application.
SPEAKER_01: He begins to answer the question, what should the disciples do with all of this information?
SPEAKER_01: He's given them the information that they were asking for.
SPEAKER_01: At least in his mind, the information that they were asking for.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Here's what you're asking for.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's what you do with it.
SPEAKER_01: That means the part of Jesus' speech before us this morning has the potential to be quite practical for us.
SPEAKER_01: See if we can find our way to that application.
SPEAKER_01: But before we get there, it's important to remind ourselves that we are at a place of significant tension in the life of the disciples and in Matthew's gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Our storyline began way back in chapter one with this lead-in to this baby that's going to be born.
SPEAKER_01: And not only is he just any normal baby, but he's of the lineage of King David.
SPEAKER_01: Not only is he of the lineage of King David, but he's born to a virgin.
SPEAKER_01: And not only is he born to a virgin, he's told that his name is going to be Jesus Savior because he will save his people from their sins.
SPEAKER_01: This child grows up and is identified as the Son of the Living God.
SPEAKER_01: And as he goes throughout his ministry, he begins to tell his disciples, his followers, just so you're not surprised, I'm going to be handed over and I'm going to be crucified and killed.
SPEAKER_01: The storyline is disastrous.
SPEAKER_01: From a literary perspective, if you just picked this up and read it as a book, you'd be thinking, what?
SPEAKER_01: This author was out of his mind.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew records first the birth of the anticipated Savior, and that Savior ends up declaring judgment on his own temple and his own royal city.
SPEAKER_01: And then to top it off, he's going to be crucified on a Roman cross as a common criminal.
SPEAKER_01: I would suggest that's not exactly how you write a story.
SPEAKER_01: That set of events would generate all kinds of questions in any Jewish mind.
SPEAKER_01: But Matthew wants us to see, and not only does he want us to see, he wants us to believe and to trust that Jesus is the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: That he is that savior who would save his people from their sins.
SPEAKER_01: That he is God in the flesh and the promised king.
SPEAKER_01: But if Jesus is all of those things, then he has to overcome all of the problems.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus is who Matthew wants us to believe he is, then Jesus must not be kept down by death.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus is who he says he is, then this judgment on his temple must not be problematic in eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Jerusalem must not be problematic in its destruction for him.
SPEAKER_01: He must not be forever bound by death, but conquer that enemy, and he must fulfill the promises of God as the reign as and reign as the Son of David, who is the Son of God, full of power and glory and all authority.
SPEAKER_01: But when you get to the crucifixion, all of that is left hanging.
SPEAKER_01: That's one of the reasons Matthew records Jesus speaking about his coming.
SPEAKER_01: His parousia, if you are familiar with that term.
SPEAKER_01: He mentions it four times in this chapter.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus must overcome death.
SPEAKER_01: He must be above God's judgment on Jerusalem for rejecting him.
SPEAKER_01: He must be superior to the destruction of the temple.
SPEAKER_01: He must be sovereign over time and the timing of his return if he is to be whom Matthew calls him.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, Jesus in this speech says, Yeah, judgments are coming.
SPEAKER_01: Judgments that you're not going to expect.
SPEAKER_01: Squeezings, tribulations are going to be coming.
SPEAKER_01: There's going to be a time of great squeezing, great tribulation.
SPEAKER_01: And none of that, none of that will keep Jesus the King from returning in great power and glory.
SPEAKER_01: That's your hope, my friend.
SPEAKER_01: Because if Jesus does not overcome death and he does not come back, then everything that he said is null and void.
SPEAKER_01: Picking up now in verse 32, we see two commands from the Lord Jesus separated by a critical implication.
SPEAKER_01: Two commands separated by a critical implication.
SPEAKER_01: First, in verse 32, we see the initial command of this passage, which is that the Lord's followers must be discipled by trees.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you heard that right.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord's followers must be discipled by trees.
SPEAKER_01: Like wise Solomon, who filled the pages of Proverbs with lessons from plants and animals, here, wisdom incarnate, wisdom into the flesh, God is wisdom, this is wisdom in the flesh, directs us to learn from trees.
SPEAKER_01: Learn in verse 32 is the verb form of the word disciple.
SPEAKER_01: So in a way, very literally, Jesus says, be discipled by a tree.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not making this up.
SPEAKER_01: And lesson, the word for lesson is the word parable.
SPEAKER_01: Trees are parables that disciple the Lord's people.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus employs those trees to teach his people.
SPEAKER_01: Now the lesson that trees teach, boy, that's hard to say, trees teach.
SPEAKER_01: See, that just proves you I don't practice these sermons.
SPEAKER_01: The lesson that trees teach is very particular.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention to what you know.
SPEAKER_01: So remember what Jesus has just completed responding to their questions.
SPEAKER_01: We want to know.
SPEAKER_01: Teach us what to know, tell us what to know, and he says, pay attention now to what you know.
SPEAKER_01: You know that summer is right around the corner when buds appear on the trees.
SPEAKER_01: Those tiny bits of growth generate expectation and anticipation.
SPEAKER_01: Like kids itching for school to be out for the summer.
SPEAKER_01: So also, verse 33, when the Lord's people see the things about which he has spoken occurring in the world, they know the king is near.
SPEAKER_01: That's the lesson we must learn from trees.
SPEAKER_01: The spring trees are a parable that teaches us about the Lord's coming in power and great glory.
SPEAKER_01: When was the last time?
SPEAKER_01: I haven't done this by the way, so I'm guilty too.
SPEAKER_01: When was the last time you took your children out in the spring and showed them the buds on the tree and said, When you see that, make it remind you that Jesus is coming back?
SPEAKER_01: Be discipled by trees.
SPEAKER_01: Being discipled by trees is the second command the Lord gave after the first one in verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: See that no one leads you astray.
SPEAKER_01: These go together.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be led astray by an inappropriate focus on identifying the road markers to eternity.
SPEAKER_01: God's people will know.
SPEAKER_01: If you listen to Jesus, you will know.
SPEAKER_01: Learn from the trees, then, to not be led astray and to understand what Christ has given his people to know.
SPEAKER_01: Now we move quickly on to verse 34.
SPEAKER_01: Truly, or amen, I say to you.
SPEAKER_01: That ought to arrest our attention.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Lord's way of calling attention, of pointing out, hey, you need to hear this.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention.
SPEAKER_01: If you're distracted by trees now, redirect your focus.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, eyes here.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01: Truly I say to you, there are things that are going to pass away.
SPEAKER_01: But one thing won't.
SPEAKER_01: Notice how he does this.
SPEAKER_01: He does it by commanding his disciples to be diligent in trusting his word.
SPEAKER_01: Be discipled by trees.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as you are discipled by trees, you're going to understand that certain things that you see in your world are going to say, Jesus is coming.
SPEAKER_01: Along the way, don't forget to be diligent in trusting his word.
SPEAKER_01: This is sort of a transition here.
SPEAKER_01: We have a conclusion to the first section and a transition to the next section, all rolled into one.
SPEAKER_01: That conclusion and transition is a tacit encouragement to be diligent in trusting the word.
SPEAKER_01: Notice what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Heaven and earth will pass away.
SPEAKER_01: But my words will not pass away.
SPEAKER_01: We have three categories that are being addressed here.
SPEAKER_01: One is a group of people existing during a certain period of time.
SPEAKER_01: Another is the created universe.
SPEAKER_01: And then the third category is the Lord's words.
SPEAKER_01: Two of those categories will pass away.
SPEAKER_01: They will go away.
SPEAKER_01: Only one will not pass away.
SPEAKER_01: The group of people that Jesus refers to, that generation, will pass away.
SPEAKER_01: The universe will pass away.
SPEAKER_01: Only the words of Christ will not pass away.
SPEAKER_01: Now I've said that this is an implied encouragement to trust the word.
SPEAKER_01: How do we know that?
SPEAKER_01: There are at least two reasons.
SPEAKER_01: First, Jesus affirms the accuracy of scriptural prophecy by declaring its fulfillment within God's program for this age.
SPEAKER_01: We say that differently.
SPEAKER_01: Last time we looked at how what Jesus has said previously all comes from the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: We looked at passage after passage after passage saying, look at all this.
SPEAKER_01: He's just bringing in Old Testament prophecy and he's laying it out and he's saying, here's how it's all going to be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is identifying the accuracy of those prophecies, and he's saying it's going to happen within this age of God's program.
SPEAKER_01: He says, all these things will take place.
SPEAKER_01: This generation will pass away, he says, but not until everything that Jesus has said is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: That points back to the condemnation against the temple and the judgment on Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: It points back to the beginning of birth pains in verse 7, the great tribulation, verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: All the prophetic events alluded to in this chapter, the patterns and the prophecies of Scripture will be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: So what Jesus says here is that everything that God has promised, everything that God has said will be fulfilled, even if the sun explodes.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that God has said will be done will be done even if a comet impacts the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Or whatever other cosmic element you can dream up.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, My words are going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: So don't let the desire to pinpoint this generation.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let the desire to pinpoint who that is and when that is cause you to miss out on the certainty of Jesus' words.
SPEAKER_01: Talking about the certainty of Jesus' words.
SPEAKER_01: Now I know you're curious.
SPEAKER_01: Who is this generation now that I brought it up?
SPEAKER_01: That's a critical question for our theology of last things.
SPEAKER_01: Some would say that it it refers to the disciples that Jesus is speaking to.
SPEAKER_01: Others would point to those who are alive at the time of 67, 68, 69, 70 A.D.
SPEAKER_01: when the judgments of the Roman army came against Jerusalem and Judea.
SPEAKER_01: Yet others would say that it points to those who will be alive at the time of the Great Tribulation.
SPEAKER_01: And yet others would say that Jesus intends all of those.
SPEAKER_01: Just as prophecy often does, they would say that, well, yeah, all of those kind of are foreshadowing what is ultimately the generation that Jesus is speaking of.
SPEAKER_01: Everything builds up into that end time generation.
SPEAKER_01: They foreshadow that time when those who are alive during the Great Tribulation will endure all of these trials.
SPEAKER_01: And this is an important question.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm going to pass on investigating it.
SPEAKER_01: Because while it is an important question, getting hung up there misses Jesus' point.
SPEAKER_01: Because the emphasis is not on who this generation is.
SPEAKER_01: The focus is on the certainty of Christ's word.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss that.
SPEAKER_01: First, Jesus affirms the accuracy of prophecy by declaring its fulfillment in this age of God's creation.
SPEAKER_01: That leads, secondly, to the encouragement to trust the word because of its certainty and the one from whom it comes.
SPEAKER_01: You say, you know what, I don't I just don't see how this works itself out in.
SPEAKER_01: In time, in earth history.
SPEAKER_01: I don't see how all of this works.
SPEAKER_01: Well, don't worry about that.
SPEAKER_01: Do you trust Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Do you trust that He is the Word of God?
SPEAKER_01: Do all of these things make you nervous and uncertain and afraid?
SPEAKER_01: Does the burden of hearing these things put pressure on you?
SPEAKER_01: Trust Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Trust the word.
SPEAKER_01: The prophecies and the promises are accurate and they are affirmed by Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And hearing them in the language of, Amen, or truly I say to you, and my words will not pass away, leads his people to trust in the certainty of his announcement.
SPEAKER_01: And we, as his people living today, are led to trust in the certainty of his word regarding any unfulfilled future events, including his promise to return.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that important?
SPEAKER_01: It's important because there were people in the early church that were wondering if they missed it.
SPEAKER_01: Has he already come and we missed it?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: You won't miss it.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody will know.
SPEAKER_01: So trust his word.
SPEAKER_01: Trust what he said.
SPEAKER_01: Now we can wrestle with the meaning of this generation and the theological implications of the cosmos passing away.
SPEAKER_01: But we must not miss Jesus' intention to direct his followers to trust his word diligently.
SPEAKER_01: The word of Christ is the most important thing.
SPEAKER_01: Everything in this chapter that he has declared will be.
SPEAKER_01: God says, and it is.
SPEAKER_01: If you question that, just read Genesis 1 and 2.
SPEAKER_01: The word speaks and it comes to be.
SPEAKER_01: So it is with all things surrounding his return.
SPEAKER_01: So, my friends, trust his word if these weighty truths burden you.
SPEAKER_01: If you question him, look to the word.
SPEAKER_01: So the Lord's followers here have his words confirmed.
SPEAKER_01: They have his promises affirmed and his sovereign plans certified.
SPEAKER_01: This will happen.
SPEAKER_01: They can trust his answers to their questions and rest in all that he will do because he has said it will be.
SPEAKER_01: Now diligently trusting in what he has said becomes extremely important in verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: For the disciples' trust in his word is immediately tested.
SPEAKER_01: But concerning that day and hour, no one knows.
SPEAKER_01: As I've said throughout our look at this chapter, we need to be the kind of people that have convictions, but hold them humbly.
SPEAKER_01: One of the reasons that we hold them humbly is because we might have convictions, but it's sometimes really impossible to nail down exactly what is absolutely right.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you an example.
SPEAKER_01: There are several perspectives on multiple points of the Lord's speech.
SPEAKER_01: It's the same here in verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: Some would assert that what follows verse 36 refers to the rapture of the church, while others argue that it refers to the second coming at the end of the tribulation period.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that presents some uncertainty there, which is right and which is wrong, but it can get more confusing than that.
SPEAKER_01: Some who believe that the church will be raptured at the end of the tribulation period, we call it post-tribulationalism.
SPEAKER_01: Some who hold that opinion claim that this section supports their conclusions.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: At the same time, though, some who hold to a pre-tribulational rapture, that the rapture occurs first and then the tribulation happens, they claim that no, this passage supports our conclusion.
SPEAKER_01: And even those within the same interpretive camp will disagree.
SPEAKER_01: So many options.
SPEAKER_01: What do we do with that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we first we we work hard to figure out what is right.
SPEAKER_01: Is there a way that we can come to a conviction?
SPEAKER_01: And then we hold that conviction humbly.
SPEAKER_01: Now I believe that this section speaks of the second coming at the end of the tribulation.
SPEAKER_01: It's a fascinating topic of discussion, but it's probably a little too technical for a Sunday morning sermon.
SPEAKER_01: But I know that some of you might be interested in that discussion.
SPEAKER_01: But that discussion is problematic because only a few biblical scholars actually outline their reasons for their conclusions.
SPEAKER_01: They don't really say why.
SPEAKER_01: They might give one reason or two reasons, or they might just say, this is what I think, and then just move on, like I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: That surprised me.
SPEAKER_01: I was glad for it.
SPEAKER_01: That was somebody who listed five reasons for why this refers to the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it when someone gives details for the reasons that they hold, even if I disagree with them.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to proceed here from the perspective that this is not about the rapture at the beginning of the tribulation, but this is about when the Lord returns at the end of the tribulation.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to go into all the reasons here, but if you're interested, I'm working on providing a paper that will explain some of these issues.
SPEAKER_01: And what I'm going to do is I'm going to take the individual who gave his five reasons for the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just going to lay them out on one side of a paper, and then I'm going to interact with those on the other side of the paper and kind of summarize it all, just so you can say, hey, here's a couple of options.
SPEAKER_01: How do I think through this?
SPEAKER_01: I'd hoped to have that ready for this morning, but I just didn't get done.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord willing, by next week I'll have that after you've settled down a bit from this sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for laughing.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01: But I trust that it will be helpful for some of you who want to process this in detail.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we'll talk about some of the things that go into this here a little bit, but we're not going to take a deep dive into what this is talking about.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm taking this route, okay, of not taking a deep dive into my reasons or what what the reasons are.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing that because while we while seeing this as the rapture or as the second coming is critical.
SPEAKER_01: It's very much like this generation.
SPEAKER_01: We miss the Lord's point if we get stuck there.
SPEAKER_01: For his point is not about the second coming or about the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: His point is found in the command given in verse 42 to be watchful.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're keeping track, that means we have three commands from Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4, see that no one leads you astray.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 32, learn the lesson of the fig tree, be discipled by the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 42, stay awake, for you do not know.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention, learn, and remain vigilant.
SPEAKER_01: These three commands are the Lord's way of keeping us from getting stuck in the details and remembering we still have to live life following Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So here's how you do that.
SPEAKER_01: So what then are we to make of this section beginning in verse 36?
SPEAKER_01: We've seen that we are to be discipled by the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: We are to be diligent in trusting the word, and here we find that we are to be driven by watchful ignorance.
SPEAKER_01: We are to be driven by watchful ignorance.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you will have the same kind of memories that I have.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are too young for this memory.
SPEAKER_01: I have a visual image, a picture in my mind that is so clear that it could have happened last week.
SPEAKER_01: Except it's in black and white.
SPEAKER_01: It's in black and white because the image is of a of a small church sanctuary, and there's a single aisle in the middle, and in the middle of that aisle, about two-thirds of the way back, is an old reel-to-reel projector.
SPEAKER_01: You know, those things that had the movie tape wrapped around on one side, and then it went to the other side and it played through that.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are nodding.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have the exact date of this memory, uh, but I know that it couldn't be earlier than about 1979, and probably not later than 1981 or 82.
SPEAKER_01: My visual is of that small church on a dark evening with that old reel-to-reel projector, and we were watching a Christian movie entitled A Thief in the Night.
SPEAKER_01: It was one of the first Christian end times movies promoting the doctrine of the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: I believe you can still watch it on YouTube or something like that.
SPEAKER_01: It's available somewhere on the internet if you want to see what it's all about.
SPEAKER_01: It's really bad acting.
SPEAKER_01: I remember that.
SPEAKER_01: This text, this passage right here, was the basis for that movie.
SPEAKER_01: And it freaked a bunch of people out.
SPEAKER_01: But God used it.
SPEAKER_01: Because God brought people to saving faith through that movie.
SPEAKER_01: And on the face of it, we can hear something like a rapture concept in this passage when we read in verse 40 and 41 that there's going to be two people performing tasks, and all of a sudden one of them is going to be gone and one of them's going to be left.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I would counter that thought with something that Charles Spurgeon once quipped, that reading, reading comes from, often comes from what we think the text ought to say, rather than what it does say.
SPEAKER_01: It's really easy to read something and get our own concept of it, that it really doesn't say.
SPEAKER_01: But to hear what it does say requires that we first observe here what Jesus is doing.
SPEAKER_01: Not what he's saying, but what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And we can see what Jesus is doing by the first two words of verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: In the English Standard Version, it's but concerning.
SPEAKER_01: And we might ask, what's the big deal with those two words?
SPEAKER_01: And the Greek that Matthew wrote in, it's it's a preposition and a conjunction, two words.
SPEAKER_01: But those two pieces are essential for what Jesus is doing.
SPEAKER_01: For example, the Apostle Paul answers questions in the book of 1 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_01: He answers questions because the church at Corinth sent him a letter.
SPEAKER_01: They sent him a letter with all kinds of churchy-like questions.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, what about this, and what about this, and what about that?
SPEAKER_01: And when he responded to their questions, he introduced a new answer with these same two words.
SPEAKER_01: Now, concerning what you wrote about here, here's my answer.
SPEAKER_01: Then the next question, now concerning this, here's my answer.
SPEAKER_01: So he begins a new answer, a new topic, a new subject with these same two words that Jesus uses here.
SPEAKER_01: And that makes some folks think that Jesus is addressing a brand new topic here.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not the best way to do Bible study.
SPEAKER_01: That would be expecting me to write something the same way that you would write it.
SPEAKER_01: You would never do that to me, right?
SPEAKER_01: And yet sometimes we make Bible writers do that.
SPEAKER_01: We think Matthew needs to write exactly the way Paul writes.
SPEAKER_01: But let's try to let Matthew be Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: And if we do that, I think we can see a little bit more clearly what Jesus is doing here.
SPEAKER_01: So again, there are two words, but concerning in English, a preposition and a conjunction in Greek.
SPEAKER_01: That same exact form of two words, same two words, appears four times in the Gospel of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: And it's used in two different ways in those four times, and those are identified by the grammar.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show this to you.
SPEAKER_01: First, Matthew chapter 20, verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: About the 11th hour he went out and found others standing.
SPEAKER_01: This is talking about the vineyard owner looking for workers.
SPEAKER_01: He goes out searching for workers, and he says, Why are you standing here doing nothing all day?
SPEAKER_01: Get to work.
SPEAKER_01: I'll pay you.
SPEAKER_01: Go to work in my vineyard.
SPEAKER_01: The same exact form appears later in Matthew chapter 27, verse 46.
SPEAKER_01: And about the ninth hour, Jesus is on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: He cries out with a loud voice, saying, Ali Ali Lama Sabacthani, which is, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
SPEAKER_01: Now these two verses you can see as I put them side by side, they show that this preposition and this conjunction are revealing an approximate time.
SPEAKER_01: About the 11th hour, about the ninth hour.
SPEAKER_01: So they're talking about something that is approximate, it's around this time, it's about this time.
SPEAKER_01: That makes sense to us.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not exactly what Jesus is doing in Matthew 24.
SPEAKER_01: So do we have something that's clearer?
SPEAKER_01: And the answer is yes, we actually do.
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew 22, verse 31, it says, And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God?
SPEAKER_01: This parallels Matthew 24, 36.
SPEAKER_01: But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
SPEAKER_01: So to go back to the top one, Matthew 22.
SPEAKER_01: You remember this story?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is being sort of attacked, challenged by the Sadducees.
SPEAKER_01: And there's this little kind of parenthetical statement that Matthew gives us.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Hey, don't forget that the Sadducees are those group of Jewish leaders that don't believe in the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: And so they they craft this trick question, the trick Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So they say, hey, there was there was this lady among us who was married to this guy, and that guy died, and so she married his brother, and that guy died, and so she married his brother, and so on, and so on, until she's married to six or seven guys.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus, in the resurrection, in eternity, whose wife is she gonna be?
SPEAKER_01: You remember this?
SPEAKER_01: Remember this?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, you know what, you're all mixed up.
SPEAKER_01: So let me straighten things out in your head.
SPEAKER_01: There is no marriage in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That's the answer to your question.
SPEAKER_01: But then he goes on.
SPEAKER_01: But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven't you read your Bible?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, Jesus turned the tables on them.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You're so concerned, and you're concerned about the wrong issue.
SPEAKER_01: The issue you should be concerned about isn't marriage.
SPEAKER_01: The issue you should be concerned about is the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: That same exact grammatical form appears in Matthew 24, verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples ask Jesus questions.
SPEAKER_01: When will these things be?
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell us what we need to know, what we need to look for?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus answers in verse 36, you're concerned about the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_01: The issue you ought to be concerned about isn't knowing the day and hour of my coming, but you're not knowing.
SPEAKER_01: You're concerned about the wrong thing because you can't know.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus uses a particular phrase to redirect the disciples from what they can know to what they can't know.
SPEAKER_01: How do we see that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, look at verse 32.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 32, let's go back to the to the fig tree discipling us.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
SPEAKER_01: So also when you see these things, you know I'm near.
SPEAKER_01: We know this.
SPEAKER_01: You can know this.
SPEAKER_01: Now look down at verse 36 concerning that day and hour.
SPEAKER_01: No one knows.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 42, you do not know.
SPEAKER_01: And again, if you look over in chapter 25, verse 13, you know neither the day nor the hour.
SPEAKER_01: Ignorance, the lack of knowledge, I'm using ignorance not necessarily in a negative way, it's just not knowing.
SPEAKER_01: Indeed, that we cannot know becomes the basis for the command in verse 42, stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: It's repeated again in chapter 25, verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: Stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot know.
SPEAKER_01: Stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord's people are to be driven by watchful ignorance.
SPEAKER_01: Like those first disciples, we want to know so many details.
SPEAKER_01: We want to be able to lay things out.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I want this and this and this, so I can see, I can trace my path.
SPEAKER_01: It's like connect a dot, right?
SPEAKER_01: We want those.
SPEAKER_01: But the Lord says we will remain ignorant regarding some things.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, we must always remain vigilant and to stay awake as a guard on duty.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is coming back as the glorious sovereign king, but no one knows when except God the Father.
SPEAKER_01: We should then be willing to have a bit of humility and how we hold our convictions.
SPEAKER_01: For even in his humanity, the Lord Jesus did not exercise his divine prerogative to know, but instead trusted the Father.
SPEAKER_01: He gave us an example to follow, to trust the sovereignty of our God.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus moves on and he says, I'm going to describe for you my coming.
SPEAKER_01: That coming is described like the days of Noah.
SPEAKER_01: For as were the days of Noah, what were those days like?
SPEAKER_01: They were normal days.
SPEAKER_01: Life continued on with usual events occurring, except for this man building a big boat.
SPEAKER_01: Everything was occurring as normal.
SPEAKER_01: Life went on until the day that God told Noah to get into the ark.
SPEAKER_01: That's all we have right here.
SPEAKER_01: But if we do a little bit of thinking and process, well, what else does the Bible say about the days of Noah?
SPEAKER_01: Peter tells us in his epistles that Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: That he proclaimed what God said was right.
SPEAKER_01: That's why the book of Hebrews and chapter 11 of Hebrews says that Noah, simply by doing what he was doing and by preaching what he was preaching, saying what he was saying, he condemned the entire world.
SPEAKER_01: When we put that together with what's here, the conclusion that we reach is these people in Noah's day were willfully ignorant.
SPEAKER_01: They were self condemned.
SPEAKER_01: When verse 39 says that they were unaware or unknowing, that they were ignorant.
SPEAKER_01: The rest of the Bible shows us that they could have known.
SPEAKER_01: They should have been aware, but they were not.
SPEAKER_01: They took everything that God laid out for them and they said, So?
SPEAKER_01: And because they just dismissed God's word through Noah, they were willfully ignorant.
SPEAKER_01: They willfully ignored God's warning through Noah.
SPEAKER_01: So the flood came and swept them away.
SPEAKER_01: That level of ignorance, that willful rebellion, Jesus said, will be present at the Lord's return.
SPEAKER_01: Notice the parallels here.
SPEAKER_01: The men and the men in the field and the women grinding grain parallel the eating, drinking, and marrying of Noah's day.
SPEAKER_01: It's not saying that there are literally going to be women grinding at a handmill.
SPEAKER_01: It's saying, listen, these are the normal activities of daily life and of society.
SPEAKER_01: People are going to be going on as if everything was normal.
SPEAKER_01: And we think, well, how in the world can that be?
SPEAKER_01: How can we think about the tribulation period and everything that Revelation describes of how awful that's going to be?
SPEAKER_01: And people are just going to go on as normal.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how could they go on as normal when this guy is building this big boat?
SPEAKER_01: And then starts loading provisions on it.
SPEAKER_01: And then the stream of animals starts coming.
SPEAKER_01: How could they go on eating?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I can imagine some of them sitting down there with their popcorn and watching.
SPEAKER_01: Say, listen, this is not about what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: This is about what's going on in the hearts of people where God is going to bring judgment, and people are ignorant of it, willfully ignorant, and they just keep on doing the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: People will be engaged in everyday activities because they will be willfully ignorant of the impending doom.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, verse 42, stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: For you do not know what day your Lord is coming.
SPEAKER_01: But know this.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody's going to break into your house?
SPEAKER_01: I bet you you're waiting up for them.
SPEAKER_01: With the frying pan in your hand or a firearm or something else.
SPEAKER_01: If you know when they're coming, you're going to be ready.
SPEAKER_01: But notice again, verse 42 therefore stay awake, for you do not know.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see what Jesus does?
SPEAKER_01: He says to the disciples, you're ignorant too.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just the people in Noah's day, it's not just the people when I come back that are that are willfully ignorant.
SPEAKER_01: There are things you don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, have you ever realized that Noah didn't know the timing of the flood?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever thought about that?
SPEAKER_01: I spent way too much ponder time pondering that this week.
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
SPEAKER_01: He parallels Abraham in so many ways.
SPEAKER_01: Abraham was told, hey, Abraham, pack up everything and start walking.
SPEAKER_01: I'll let you know when you get there.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, Noah, there's never been a flood.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe not even ever rain.
SPEAKER_01: Start building, I'll let you know when to get in.
SPEAKER_01: Noah didn't know the timing of the flood, but surely he had some idea.
SPEAKER_01: As the ark's construction was completed and he's sealing it all up so that it's watertight and provisions begin to be loaded on deck.
SPEAKER_01: Certainly there's something going on in his mind that, hey, the time's got to be close.
SPEAKER_01: Noah certainly could know that that day was near, and as Jesus said in verse 33, at the very gate, could he not?
SPEAKER_01: Yet he did not know until God told him, Noah, get in.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm shutting the door.
SPEAKER_01: So too for that generation.
SPEAKER_01: Like Noah, God's people will be diligent, watchful, waiting, yet ignorant of the exact timing.
SPEAKER_01: They'll have some idea, they'll have a sense that he is near, because he's already told us here are the things you can know.
SPEAKER_01: But don't get caught dozing.
SPEAKER_01: Be watchful, be diligent in your ignorance.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
SPEAKER_01: With me.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna wrap this up.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, stay awake, for you don't know.
SPEAKER_01: What about these people that are going to be taken?
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 13, beginning in verse 24, Jesus has put another parable before them.
SPEAKER_01: Learn from farming.
SPEAKER_01: Let farming be your disciple.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
SPEAKER_01: So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
SPEAKER_01: And the servants of the master of the house came to him and said, Master, didn't you sow good seed in your field?
SPEAKER_01: How then does it have weeds?
SPEAKER_01: He said to them, An enemy has done this.
SPEAKER_01: So the servants said, Then do you want us to go and gather up the weeds?
SPEAKER_01: He said, No.
SPEAKER_01: Lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
SPEAKER_01: I was pulling some long grass stalks out of my strawberry plants this week, and guess what came up with one of them?
SPEAKER_01: The strawberry plant.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, Don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first, and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.
SPEAKER_01: Jump down to verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: Then he left the crowds and went into the house, and his disciples came to him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.
SPEAKER_01: And he answered, The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_01: The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.
SPEAKER_01: The harvest is the close of the age, and the reaper is our angels.
SPEAKER_01: What have the disciples asked about?
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell us about the end of the age?
SPEAKER_01: Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the close of the age.
SPEAKER_01: Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_01: In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
SPEAKER_01: Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father.
SPEAKER_01: He who has ears.
SPEAKER_01: Let him hear.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We want to stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: Even though we don't have our connect the dot necessarily, we we might be able to have some sense of what the image is on the paper.
SPEAKER_01: We might even have more than a sense.
SPEAKER_01: We might have a sense of clarity that leads to convictions.
SPEAKER_01: But you tell us very clearly, there are things we do not know.
SPEAKER_01: We are ignorant, but we are not ignorant willfully, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We are ignorant because you've not revealed them to us.
SPEAKER_01: You've not given us perfect clarity.
SPEAKER_01: And so we stand here, we sit here, we gather together weekly in trust that while we do not know, you do know.
SPEAKER_01: That the God of the universe sovereignly knows exactly what's happening and exactly when all these things will take place.
SPEAKER_01: So work within us, your people, by your spirit, to give us endurance, perseverance.
SPEAKER_01: And then in the midst of that endurance and perseverance, that we might have boldness to be like Noah, to ignore a world around us that laughs, that mocks, that may even gather up the popcorn and watch as we trust you.
SPEAKER_01: May we proclaim by our lives, by our deeds, and with our mouths that you are our salvation, that you are the one in whom our hope rests.
SPEAKER_01: And until you come to take us home.
SPEAKER_01: Until that day, may we remain awake.
SPEAKER_01: Not by might, not by power, but by your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We ask these things in your name, Lord Jesus, and for your praise and glory.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.