Does Anyone Know When?
Matthew 24:32-51
-Today is the last message in our sermon series on the second coming.
-We have looked at 1. Why Christ must return, 2. The doctrine of the soon return of Christ, 3. birth pangs, 4. The tribulation, 5. Signs in the Sky
This morning we are going to continue to look at this passage from Matthew 24, remember this is where the disciples had asked Jesus the questions “Tell us when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?'
The disciples were still wanting to know when after the resurrection just before Jesus ascended up into the clouds they asked again, “So when they had come together they asked him, Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
This message this morning is an important one for us to grasp because every so often someone comes along who claims to have all figured out and they attempt to set a date when Christ is coming back, and they have all been wrong
look at what Jesus said about his coming in verse 36, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son but the Father only.”
This is an answer the disciples question, God has chosen in his sovereignty to keep the date of his coming the best kept secret in the universe. God has not allowed his angels to know it, and this is even hard for some to grasp but Christ in his humanity did not have a conscious awareness of the precise time of his coming.
Jesus said, Not the angels, nor the Son but the Father only
It will literally be a day that catches the world off guard-
Jesus said it would be like the days of Noah when people were eating and drinking and marrying and in verse 39, “and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
in verse 43 he says that his coming will be like a thief in the night and verse 44 at an hour you do not expect.
Again in verse 50, “the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know.”
The coming of Christ is going to catch the world off guard.
But here is the thing I want you to see, it will catch the world off guard, but not the Christian. The flood caught the world off guard but not Noah. He knew it was coming, he didn't know when, but he was ready.
Look at what Paul said to the church
1Th 5:1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.
1Th 5:2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 1Th 5:3 While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
1Th 5:4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
On March 30, 1981 as President Ronald Regan was leaving the Hilton Hotel in Washington John Hinkley opened fire at close range shooting 5 or 6 times. No one that day was expecting it to happen, and when you go back and watch the video of it you will see something very interesting. No one was expecting the president to get shot that day so you would assume that it caught everyone off guard but it didn't. Most of the people in the video as soon as they hear the first gun shot duck for cover because they are caught off guard, but the secret service don't even flinch they are the only ones in the video still standing and reaching for their own guns and jumping in front of the president. They didn't know it was going to happen that day but they are trained to watch and be ready for it to happen any day. Which is why id didn't catch them off guard.
And that's what Paul is saying about the second coming, its a day that will catch the world off guard
In this passage Christ also says it will be separating day
verse 40, “two men will be in the field one will be taken and one left, two women will be grinding at the mill one will be taken and one left.
Christian group DC Talk has a song that goes like this
Life was filled with guns and war,
And all of us got trampled on the floor.
I wish we'd all been ready.
Children died, the days grew cold.
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold.
I wish we'd all been ready.
And there's no time
To change your mind
The Son has come
And you've been left behind.
A man and wife asleep in bed,
She hears a noise, turns her head he's gone.
I wish we'd all been ready.
Two men walking up a hill,
One disappears, one's left standing still.
I wish we'd all been ready.
The Father spoke, the demons died.
How could you have been so blind?
And there's no time
To change your mind
The Son has come
And you've been left behind.
Mat 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
Mat 25:32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Mat 25:33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
This morning I want to share with you from this passage three reasons that God has chosen to keep the day of his returning a secret from the world and from the angels
The first reason that the Lord keeps the day of Christ coming a mystery to us is in order to
Keeps us humble
Pride is anything we do to exalt ourselves or our interest over the interest of others
so called “prophets” who set dates for the coming of Christ are exalting their own knowledge above the truth of Gods word that claims no man knows the day or the hour, no man knows the time of his coming. Pride is what caused satan to be cast out of Heaven he wanted to exalt himself above God
nothing humbles the date setters as much as the day they predicted coming and going without Christ returning. They can sound like they have it all figured out with their charts and diagrams but they are quickly humbled when it doesn't happen the way they predicted it would.
Think about it if God told us the exact day when Christ was returning we would come up with all sorts of excuses to put off making a decision to follow Christ, but not knowing keep us humble before God.
Its hard for us to admit that we can't do something or that we don't know something but when it comes to the second coming of Christ the answer is I don't know when it will be only God does
Christ said its not for us to know. There are sometimes that if we aren't careful we even get proud about being humble but when it comes to admitting that there is a question we can't answer it reminds us that are the created and he is the creator
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
In order for someone to claim they know when Christ is returning it would require an absolute disregard for scripture.
Christ set the perfect example of humility for us to follow
Phl 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [fn]
Phl 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Phl 2:7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, [fn] being born in the likeness of men.
Phl 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross
It was in Christ humility that he submitted to the Father's will and it was the Fathers will that no on, not the angels, and not even the Son knew the day of his second coming to earth
God has made it so that the timing for Christ second coming be a mystery so that we don't think of ourselves more highly than we should but that we stay humble before God and before other people
Rom 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Gal 6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Keep us Alert & Ready
God knows us better than we know ourselves. Had the Lord let us know the day of his return we would wait until the last minute to get ready. By not knowing God is causing us to be alert and ready at all times.
In this passage Jesus compares his coming to the days of Noah. In Noah's day people were eating and drinking and marrying right up until the day that Noah entered the ark
Jesus is not saying that there is anything sinful about eating and drinking and marrying, he is just saying that life was going on as normal right up until the flood came. The people were not alert and they weren't ready.
Yet the people had plenty of time to get ready and be alert.
Peter says that God was long-suffering, patience towards the people giving them time to get ready while Noah built the ark
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
Peter even called Noah a preacher of righteousness, which means that Noah must have verbally warned the people about the coming flood
2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth [person], a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
but since there was no date set for the flood people just put it off thinking that Noah must have been out of his mind. The ignored the warning much like we ignore the warnings from the weather man today. When the ice storm hit this last week there was a waiting list for generators and kerosene heaters at the Menard and walmart by our house. Why didn't we already have those things? Because we put off until the last minute the things that we don't think will ever really happen and when they do they catch us off guard
That's the message that Jesus is getting through to this disciples and us in this passage. Look in verse 42, “Therefore stay awake.” verse 44, “therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Mar 13:35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch and be sober.
Those secret service agents when Reagen got shot didn't know it was going to happen that day, didn't know it would happen at all, but they were always watching and being alert for it to happen at any moment
and that is the way that Christ is teaching we should live about his coming. We don't know when, it could happen any day but we should always be watching and be ready for it to happen at any moment.
Bible teacher John Macarthur says, “sadly many professing Christians live their lives without ever giving a thought to the possibility that they could find themselves in the presence of Christ at any moment. That sort of apathy makes us dull and spiritually sluggish.”
Since we have no way of knowing when Christ will return we need to be alert and ready at all times. The only way for us to be ready is to be saved
because Christ said that his angels will gather the elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
Thats why when the Apostle Paul was writing to the church in Corinth he said
2Cr 6:2 For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Today is the day of salvation because this could be the day when Christ comes back, the need is urgent for people to come to the knowledge of Christ Jesus
The only way to be alert is to stand guard..know the signs of his coming, be aware that we are seeing the beginning of birth pains and that all of creation is proclaiming the message that Christ is coming back.
Not only did God keep the date from us in order to keep us humble, alert and ready but also to
Keep us Faithful
look at the parable Jesus taught beginning in verse 45. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you he will set him over all his possessions.
Whenever you work on a job, when your boss shows up or looks at your progress you want him or her to find out that you have done your very best. For the sake of your position and finances
Christ uses a parable here everyone could relate to
We don't know when the master is going to show up, but he has given us all a job to do. He has gifted us, given us the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the world and made us overseers in His church.
When he comes we want him to find us faithful doing the work that he has called us to do
a couple of key phrases in this passage verse 45, faithful, verse 46, doing
Jam 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Jam 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
Jam 1:24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
Jam 1:25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
In this parable the faithful servant is the one who is busy, the wicked servant is the one who days in verse 48, “My master has delayed his coming.”
believers who are found faithful will rule and reign with Christ in His Kingdom, they are Joint heirs with Christ and they are even granted the right to sit with Christ on His throne
I shared with you a few weeks ago a quote and prayer by Mother Therese she said, “my prayer to God is not to be successful but rather that he gives me the strength to be found faithful.”
I know that people have a lot of excuses as to why they aren't faithful God, why they aren't using their gifts in the church, why the spend more time bellyaching than praying, excuses as to why they don't show up to worship God
but it really boils down to the simple truth we do what we want to do, and from what I see and I'm sure u do to there are a lot of people who have bought the lie of Satan that our master has delayed his coming.
When I was growing up my uncle had Parkinson disease and over the years it got worse as the disease does, but until the day he passes away he was found faithful in worshiping God. There were Sundays that he literally had to crawl up the steps in the church to come into worship, Sundays he had to sit and wait after the service for his legs to start moving again just so he could leave.
He could have stayed home and everyone would have understood. But he did what he wanted to do and he wanted to be where the church was meeting.
What about yo will the Lord find you faithful when he returns?
Had Noah given up building the Ark he would have perished with the rest of the world
In closing,
It doesn't matter how convincing the preacher is if anyone tells us they have figured out when Christ is coming back don't believe it No man knows the day or the hour
it will be a day that separates the believers from unbelievers,
it will be a day that catches the world off guard
God has chosen in His wisdom to now let us know when they day will come in order to keep us humble, so that we will be ready and so that we will be found faithful.
