The Second Coming of Christ
Part 6: Are You Ready for the Rapture?
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 24:40-51, Matthew 25:1-13
(Initial reading: Matthew 24:40-44)
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared March 12, 2023)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 24, and we will study three more of the Lord's parables. Remember that by now, it was only 2 or 3 days before the cross. Jesus had just finished condemning the Jewish leaders for stubbornly rejecting Him as the Messiah. The Lord also condemned them for their spiritual pride, corruption, lack of mercy, hypocrisy, and more.
*Then on the way out of the city, the disciples stopped to admire the Temple. Matthew 24:1 says, "Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple." I can imagine them saying, "Lord take a look! Isn't it wonderful? Aren't you impressed?"
*Jesus was not impressed. And in vs. 2 the Lord told them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.'' The disciples were shocked. The destruction of the temple was one of the last things they expected, so they began to question the Lord. Verse 3 says, "Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?'''
*We have studied the Lord's answer for several weeks, looking at the sure truths, the warnings, the mysteries, the Old Testament background, the rapture of the Church, and the final fulfillment of His words. But as Jesus answered the disciples' questions about His second coming, He used parables to help them understand. And these parables can also help us get ready for the rapture of God's Church. Let's get started by reading Matthew 24:40-44.
MESSAGE:
*You know, some of the shortest questions have the longest impact: "Do you love me?" "Will you marry me?" Today, we will focus on another question like that. It's a short question, but the answer will determine the eternal destiny for all people alive today: "Are you ready for the rapture?"
*With all His heart, God wants people to get ready, so in today's Scripture the Lord stressed 3 essentials related to our readiness.
1. FIRST: JESUS STRESSED THE PRIORITY FOR US TO GET READY.
*The first thing to notice today is this: Jesus spent most of His time in these Scriptures stressing the priority for us to be ready. Jesus began to answer the disciples' questions in Matthew 24:4. And here in Matthew's Gospel, the Lord's answer goes on for 94 verses. Sixty-two of those 94 verses focus on people being ready for the rapture. In other words, when the disciples asked their questions about Jesus coming back again, the Lord devoted two thirds of His answer to the priority for us to be ready.
*Jesus described the rapture in Matthew 24:40-42, and here He said, "Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming."
*Being ready for Jesus' return is so important that the Lord told parables to help His followers understand. And the first parable today is in Matthew 24:43-44, where Jesus said, "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 when you do not expect Him."
*Someone breaking into our house is a terrible, frightening thing, especially if we are home in the middle of the night. We want to be ready for that, especially if we know when the thief is coming. If you had solid information that a thief was coming to break into your house, can you imagine not getting ready? -- No way! We would do everything we possibly could.
*Ella Edwards was ready. She was a tiny, sweet-as-sugar, senior adult lady at McClendon in West Monroe. Miss Ella was as good as gold. She was like a grandmother to our children when their own grandmothers lived hundreds of miles away.
*Before she moved to town, Miss Ella lived way out in the country by herself for many years. One day I asked her if she was ever afraid living way out there like that by herself. She laughed a little and said, "No! -- I had a shotgun by the front door, a shotgun by the back door, and I knew how to use them!"
*Ella Edwards was ready for a break-in, and Jesus Christ wants us to be ready for His return. It is urgently important, so Jesus stressed the priority for us to be ready.
2. HE ALSO STRESSED THE PROOF THAT WE ARE READY.
*What is the proof that we are ready for the rapture? -- Well, there are several good answers to this question. But in the Lord's second parable, the proof of our readiness is our faithful service to the Lord. Please listen to Jesus in Matthew 24:45-51:
45. "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?
46. Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.
47. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.
48. But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,'
49. and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,
50. the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
51. and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
*What is the proof that we are ready for the rapture? Here the proof is our faithful service to the Lord Jesus. But please know that this does not mean we are saved by serving the Lord. No one has ever been saved by serving the Lord. We could never do enough to earn our way into Heaven. Salvation has always been by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ!
*In the Old Testament, salvation was by God's grace through faith in the promise of the coming Messiah. In the New Testament, salvation is by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Why? -- Because Jesus IS the promised Messiah and Savior who came to die on the cross for our sins. Also because three days later, Jesus rose again from the dead. Now, the Lord Jesus will give His eternal life to anyone who will trust in Him. That's why in Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul said this to all Christians: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
*No one has ever been saved by serving God. Instead, we are saved to serve God, so in the very next verse, Ephesians 2:10, Paul wrote that "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." If I am really a Christian, then I don't just have a Savior, I serve a Risen Lord.
*Remember that the first disciples had a hard time with this idea of being a servant. Mark 9:33-35 tells us that the disciples had been in an argument as they travelled down the road with Jesus.
33. Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?''
34. But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.
35. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.''
*This incident in took place maybe 8 or 9 months before the cross. But this wasn't the only time the disciples argued about who was the greatest. In Matthew 23:11-12, just days before the cross, Jesus had to tell them again, "He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
*Then in Luke 22:23-27 just a few hours before the cross, even after the first Lord's Supper:
23. They began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing (that is, who would betray Jesus).
24. But there was also rivalry among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.
25. And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.'
26. But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.
27. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves."
*This "I'm the greatest" mindset is a very common problem, common among the disciples, common among most all people. But the only way to reach real greatness in God's eyes is to be a servant. And our faithful service for the Lord is proof that we are ready for the rapture.
*Listen to a testimony about David Livingstone. When it came to faithful service, he was a giant. Joseph Stowell wrote: "I think of David Livingstone, the pioneer missionary to Africa, who walked over 29,000 miles. His wife died early in their ministry, and he faced stiff opposition from his Scottish brethren. He also ministered half blind.
*His kind of perseverance spurs me on. As I run, I remember the words in his diary: 'Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever me from any tie but the tie that binds me to Your service and to Your heart.'" (1)
*Christians: God may never call us to Africa, but He certainly calls us to be His passionate, faithful servants. And our faithful service is powerful proof that we are ready for the rapture. In these verses, Jesus stressed the proof that we are ready.
3. HE ALSO STRESSED HOW TO PREPARE.
*In the Lord's third parable today He helps us see how to get ready for the rapture. This parable is in Matthew 25:1-13, where Jesus said:
1. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,
4. but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6. And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!'
7. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
8. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
9. But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.'
10. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!'
12. But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.'
13. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."
*One of the best ways to understand this parable is to realize that oil is one of God's symbols for His Holy Spirit. In Acts 10:38, the Apostle Peter talked about "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."
*God the Father did not anoint Jesus with the physical oil used to anoint Old Testament kings. *No. -- God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit. And the same Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. So, having the oil in this parable is a picture of having the spiritual oil of God's Holy Spirit in our lives. And the only way to receive God's Holy Spirit is to receive God's Son Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
*Revelation 3:20 helps us understand this truth, because there Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." Also remember that in Romans 8:9 Paul tells Christians, "You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His."
*Again, the oil in this parable represents the presence of God's Holy Spirit in the life of everyone who has received Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Trusting in the Lord then is the only way that anyone can get ready for the rapture.
*And God wants everyone to be ready for the rapture. That's why this parable gives us at least two key warnings. William Barclay explained that "first, this parable warns us that there are certain things which cannot be put off till the last minute. It is too late for a student to prepare when the day of the big test has come. And many people neglect their spiritual life until it's too late to get ready to meet God.
*This parable also warns us that there are certain things which cannot be borrowed. When the foolish virgins discovered they needed oil. They found that it was impossible to borrow. A man cannot borrow a relationship with God; he must possess it for himself." (2)
*The primary lesson of this parable then is that everyone needs to be ready for the Lord's return. And we better get ready while we can. In Matthew 25:4, the virgins who were ready were the wise ones who took oil in their vessels with their lamps. John Gill explained that the vessels represented their hearts into which the oil was put. And Gill said that the wise virgins "were concerned for the true grace of God. Being enlightened by the Spirit of God, they saw their need of the grace of God. And being directed by God where the oil could be found, they went to Jesus Christ for it; and received it from Him, through the power of the Holy Spirit." (3)
*In this parable from the Lord, the wise virgins had oil in their vessels. And the best way for me to understand this parable is something the Apostle Paul wrote his second letter to the Christians in Corinth. In 2 Corinthians 4:3-7 Paul said:
3. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4. whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
5. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6. For God who commanded light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
*Here Christians, we are the vessels. Our hearts are the vessels. And the burning oil is "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." The burning oil is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." So again: Trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way we can prepare for the rapture.
*As Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." There is no other way to Heaven but Jesus. Peter confirmed this truth in Acts 4:12 where he said, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
*James Merritt explained: "Jesus said the path to Heaven is a person. Not a principle, practice, precept, or philosophy. The path to Heaven is not the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, loving our neighbor, or clean living. All of these are good and godly things, but all of them put together could not pave one inch on the road to Heaven. Jesus is the only way. If you're going any other way, you're going the wrong way." And you will never be ready for the rapture. (4)
*A lot of misguided people are like the man who said getting to Heaven was like getting to Boston. There are a lot of roads that will get you there. But a wise Christian told him, "No, getting to Heaven is much more like flying into the Boston airport. The pilot has to land that plane on just the right runway, at just the right speed, at just the right time, and just the right angle." (5)
CONCLUSION:
*There is only one way to land that plane. And there is only one way to get to Heaven: Jesus Christ! Are you ready for the rapture? Being ready means we are ready for eternity, and nothing is more important.
*Are you ready? Open your heart to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Call on the Lord to save you, as we go back to God in prayer. Then prove you are ready through your humble, faithful service to the Lord.
(1) THROUGH THE FIRE by Joseph Stowell - Victor Books, 1988, p. 150 - Source: Sermonillustrations.com
(2) Adapted from BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES - NEW TESTAMENT by William Barclay - Revised Edition - Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew - Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - "The Fate of the Unprepared" - Matthew 25:1-13 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/william-barclay/the-fate-of-the-unprepared-matthew-251-13
(3) Adapted from JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, D. D. - 1697-1771 - Published in 1746-1766, 1816 - Matthew 25:1-13 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
(4) Adapted from Sermons.com sermon "What Are Your Chances of Going to Heaven" by James Merritt - John 14:6
(5) Original source unknown
